Financial Planning Coalition Regrets SEC Taken Out of Indexed Annuities
July 21, 2010 by Sheryl J. Moore
July 21, 2010 | BestWire
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July 20, 2010 Tuesday 04:40 PM EST
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Financial Planning Coalition Regrets SEC Taken Out of Indexed Annuities
Jesse A Hamilton
WASHINGTON
The Financial Planning Coalition is disappointed that Congress chose to strip the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of the power to regulate equity-indexed annuities. The coalition — which includes the Financial Planning Association, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors — called it “dangerous” to remove that authority.
“Our concern is that under the present law, there may be some unsuitable sales,” said David A. Cohen, assistant director of government relations for the Financial Planning Association.
The outcome they are criticizing, though, is exactly what was hoped for by annuity issuers and state insurance commissioners, who had welcomed the other recent news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered an SEC rule to regulate equity-indexed annuities as securities to be vacated (BestWire, July 13, 2010). The SEC will soon be barred from regulating equity-indexed annuities as securities under an amendment included at the last minute within Congress’ financial regulatory reform bill, expected to be signed into law this week. “Our concern is that the SEC should have the right to make the rules and then go before a court, and the court can decide whether SEC has jurisdiction under the law,” Cohen said. “The legislation takes away the opportunity for the SEC to present its case before the court.”
In December 2008, the SEC had voted to reclassify the annuities as securities, not insurance products (BestWire, Dec. 17, 2009). That vote started a legal debate that led to the industry lawsuit.
“My opinion is that the states are actually doing a more efficient job of regulating annuity products than the security side is doing in regulating investments,” said Sheryl J. Moore, president and chief executive officer of AnnuitySpecs.com. She thinks groups like this coalition aren’t familiar with the full scale of regulatory activity performed in the states. “They’re just uninformed, and they have misconceptions that we’re not regulated. … That’s just not the case.”
Cohen said his group does recognize that states have been trying to respond to the potential concerns with these annuities. “It is now in the hands of state insurance commissioners,” he said.
The coalition did, however, commend Congress for the other consumer protections in the financial reform bill, particularly applauding the extension of the fiduciary standard of care to brokers giving investment advice and a Government Accountability Office study on regulating the financial planning industry. In a survey earlier this year of several thousand members, the coalition reported that almost 59% of the financial planners knew of a person who had been the victim of bad or dishonest financial advice.
(Jesse A. Hamilton, Washington bureau manager: Jesse.Hamilton@ambest.com)
July 21, 2010