The DOL Responds to 34 Questions

DHK

RFC®, ChFC®, CLU®
5000 Post Club
The DOL Responds to Fiduciary Rule Questions - InsuranceNewsNet

Here is the PDF:
https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/f...nter/faqs/coi-rules-and-exemptions-part-1.pdf

I found question 22 helpful:
Q22. Can insurance companies rely on independent insurance agents to sell fixed rate and fixed indexed annuities to retirement investors after the applicability date of the Rule?

The response is lengthy but a couple of things:
Under the full BIC Exemption, advice recommendations must be overseen by an appropriate financial institution, which may be the insurance company that issues the annuity. As under the “suitability” rules that apply to insurance companies under many states’ laws, the insurer or financial institution responsible for overseeing the agent’s recommendations is responsible for
adopting appropriate supervisory mechanisms to ensure the agent’s (including independent agent’s) compliance with its legal obligations to customers.

and

When an independent insurance agent recommends an annuity under the full BIC Exemption, the agent and the insurance company acting as the financial institution must satisfy the exemption’s conditions, including the fiduciary acknowledgment and the impartial conduct standards, with respect to that transaction. In such cases, the insurance company effectively stands behind the agent’s recommendation to purchase the insurance product, and makes a commitment to the retirement investor that it has policies and procedures in place that have been prudently designed to ensure that the agent’s recommendations will be prudent and based upon the investor’s financial interests, rather than, for example, sales incentives created by the insurer that run contrary to the investor’s interests. Thus, as the full BIC Exemption states, the insurer, its affiliates, and related parties may not use or rely upon incentives, quotas, or other actions or incentives that are intended or would reasonably be expected to cause an adviser to give advice that violates the impartial conduct standards, including the obligation to make recommendations that are prudent and loyal.

and

While the independent agent may recommend products issued by a variety of insurers, the full BIC Exemption does not require insurance companies to exercise supervisory responsibility with respect to the practices of unrelated and unaffiliated insurance companies. If an insurer chooses to act as the supervisory financial institution for purposes of the exemption, its obligation is
simply to ensure that the insurer, its affiliates, and related parties meet the exemption’s terms with respect to the insurer’s annuity which is the subject of the transaction.
 
OK could someone PLEASE interpret this?? Does or will an insurance agent need a variable investment license (say a series 65) to offer FIXED INDEXED ANNUITIES?
 
No, you do not need a securities license. See Question #21:

Q21. Can “insurance-only” agents continue to sell fixed rate and fixed indexed annuities to retirement investors after the applicability date of the Rule?
Yes. Both the BIC Exemption and PTE 84-24 provide relief for agents, including insurance-only agents, who sell fixed rate and fixed indexed annuities to retirement investors, as described below.

Under PTE 84-24, an insurance agent can receive an insurance commission on the sale of a recommended “fixed rate annuity contract.” For purposes of the exemption, an insurance commission is a sales commission paid by the insurance company, but not revenue sharing payments, administrative fees, or marketing payments. The term “fixed rate annuity contract” is intended to describe the types of annuities commonly referred to as immediate annuities, traditional annuities, declared rate annuities and fixed rate annuities. Fixed indexed annuities and variable annuities are not covered by PTE 84-24, but relief is available for such annuities under the full BIC Exemption, which also covers a broader range of compensation.
 
Wow. Very interesting. Both the agent and carrier must go down as a written Fiduciary. This will thin the heard a good bit most likely. Which is not necessarily all that bad of a thing if the change is incremental.

As I stated a while back, nothing really changes, it just gets more complicated and more expensive.
 
The more I think about it, the term "fiduciary" really doesn't fit this whole ruling. It truly fits more of a "professional" standard, which to me means higher than the minimum "suitability" model.

Fiduciary would actually mean that it is the BEST fit out of everything out there, or at least out of all of your current product portfolio. But with this clarification that insurance companies are not required to supervise your activities with other companies... it's really about making an appropriate recommendation... with perhaps more liability than an annuity agent may be used to having, if they were just "slinging annuities" to win sales contests or something.

So, for me personally, other than some additional disclosure requirements, this won't affect me much at all. It may affect insurance companies who motivate their sales force through sales contests and promotions, and agents who just wanted to 'sell, sell, sell'.
 
Do you guys think the way Agents get paid will be affected?

Absolutely. In a Fiduciary environment it's impossible to justify giving the agent huge percentages of a client's returns. Say goodbye to products with huge comp. Most of them suck anyway... which is why they can afford to pay huge comp.
 
Absolutely. In a Fiduciary environment it's impossible to justify giving the agent huge percentages of a client's returns. Say goodbye to products with huge comp. Most of them suck anyway... which is why they can afford to pay huge comp.


are you strictly talking annuitties .. or LI as well ?

and how does the DOL define "huge comp" ... kind of scary.. if they start telling insurance company what to pay us ..
 
Back
Top