We would love to hear from you. Click on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the right and choose your favorite way to reach-out!

wscdsdc

media/speaking contact

Jamie Johnson

business contact

Victoria Peterson

Contact Us

855.ask.wink

Close [x]
pattern

Industry News

Categories

  • Industry Articles (21,155)
  • Industry Conferences (2)
  • Industry Job Openings (35)
  • Moore on the Market (414)
  • Negative Media (144)
  • Positive Media (73)
  • Sheryl's Articles (800)
  • Wink's Articles (353)
  • Wink's Inside Story (274)
  • Wink's Press Releases (123)
  • Blog Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • August 2006
  • Speed-to-Market Building Steam

    October 12, 2011 by Linda Koco

    October 12, 2011

    By Linda Koco
    Contributing Editor, AnnuityNews

    Many insurance producers today are getting faster access to individual insurance products — including annuity products — than they did five years ago because more states are signing onto a compact designed to bring products to market faster, according to the commission administering the effort.

    The faster access applies if the companies they represent file their products through the IIPRC, says Karen Schutter, executive director of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission. The products the IIPRC reviews and approves include not only annuities but also life, disability and long-term care insurance.

    The comments came on the occasion of Nevada joining the IIPRC this month. Nevada is the 40th state to go live with IIPRC since its startup in 2006. In an interview with InsuranceNewsNet, Schutter responded to questions about how growth of the IIPRC is affecting advisors.

    Faster access to products is a key benefit that agents can get if their companies use the IIPRC to file their products, Schutter contends.

    The IIPRC is a multi-state electronic filing and approval facility that carriers can elect to use for product filings and approvals. Currently, 126 carriers have registered to use the system, which sets uniform standards for the filings it will accept.

    Are commissions affected?

     

     

    How do those uniform standards affect commissions?

    Filings from a registered carrier have one set of commission requirements for the product, Schutter says. The carrier will use this set with the particular product in all IIPRC member states.

    Certain of IIPRC’s standards might affect the commission level a carrier elects for a product, she allows.

    That could happen if the standards involve higher non-forfeiture requirements—say, in variable annuities—than would be the case if the product were filed individually in a state that has less stringent non-forfeiture requirements, she says.

    “However, some states have already adopted our higher non-forfeiture standards — for variable annuities, for instance — so this may not be a major issue for carriers or their agents.”

    Sixty days or less

     

     

    IIPRC’s review and approval process takes no longer than 60 days, Schutter points out.

    In fact, the average turnaround time is substantially shorter — only 40 days as of August 2011, according to the product filing trends log at the facility’s website. That’s down from 2010, when the average turnaround was 42 days.

    The shorter turnaround time affects agents, she says, because when a product gets IIPRC approval, the carrier can start selling the product right away in all IIPRC member states. This speeds up agent and consumer access to the products in comparison to what would be the case if the products had been filed individually on a state-by-state basis, Schutter says.

    In the state-by-state filing system, a carrier files a new product (or a product tweak) in each state where it wants to offer the product. The carriers try to complete state-by-state filings in a short period, but in many instances, they encounter glitches in one state or another and/or run into unique requirements the filings must meet.

    As a result, in the state-by-state system, some filings can take several months to complete in all desired states.

    This means agents will have to wait to sell the product locally, even if they have been reading about the product in the trade press or heard about it from an agent in another state who is already selling the product. These filing-and-approval delays have been a source of irritation in advisor circles for many years, to say nothing of carrier and regulatory circles.

    Speed-to-market

     

     

    In the last decade, speed-to-market became such a concern for all sectors of the industry that it served as “a driving factor” behind creation of the IIPRC, Schutter says.

    In the middle of the decade, two states — Colorado and Utah — created the Interstate Insurance Compact using model legislation supported by both National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL). The compact’s mission is to modernize state-based insurance regulation and uphold strong consumer protections.

    In mid-2006, the compact formed the IIPRC to carry out the work of the compact by establishing uniform standards, the multi-state filing and approval process, and other means.

    Today, Schutter says, products not only move through the IIPRC filing and approval process faster than they would with many state-by-state filings, but they also, once approved, become available for rollout in all IIPRC states at the same time.

    That can be especially meaningful for insurance producers who are licensed to sell in multiple states, she says. Because IIPRC-approved products must follow uniform standards and consumer protections, producers for IIPRC-registered carriers “don’t have to learn the contract for each state where the carrier is selling it, and they don’t have to hunt for contract differences from state to state.”

    The uniform standards can also help for producers who have customers who have moved into the local area from another IIPRC member state, she says. A carrier’s IIPRC-approved product will be consistent in all states.

    “The contracts don’t necessary look alike,” Schutter points out, “but the standards are the same in every member state.”

    The contracts have a symbol on the pages that indicates that the product is an IIPRC-approved contract, she adds.

    IIPRC profile

     

     

    Collectively, IIPRC’s 40 member states represent nearly 70 percent of premium volume nationwide, according to Schutter. The IIPRC has standards for, and accepts filings for, individual life, annuity, disability and long term care insurance, but Schutter says it will be adding group products later on.

    As of August, IIPRC’s registered insurance companies represented approximately 54 percent of the national premium volume, according to the IIPRC website. Of those companies, 81 percent had submitted filings in the first seven months of the year.

    The seven largest member states, according to premium volume, are Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. One more state — Oregon — will go live in January, bringing the total active members to 41 states.

    Altogether, the facility has approved more than 950 products since it started accepting filings in June 2007. The large majority of approved products are life insurance products.

     

     

    Linda Koco, MBA, is a contributing editor to AnnuityNews, specializing in life insurance, annuities and income planning. Linda can be reached at linda.koco@innfeedback.com.

     

     

    © Entire contents copyright 2011 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.

    Originally Posted at AnnuityNews on October 12, 2011 by Linda Koco.

    Categories: Industry Articles
    currency