The Standard

July/August 2010

Producer Advisory: West Virginia

State of West Virginia

Rule: 114-89

Effective: July 1, 2010

Subject: Use of Professional Designations and Senior-Specific Certifications

West Virginia Rule 114-89 prohibits the misleading and fraudulent use of producers' senior-specific certifications and other professional designations in the advertising, sale of, or advice made in connection with life insurance and annuities. The new rule adopts standards of determining when use of a senior-specific certification or designation is prohibited, and it provides guidance on whether an organization issuing a designation is qualified to do so. The rule follows the NAIC's Model Regulation on the Use of Senior-Specific Certifications and Professional Designations in the Sale of Life Insurance and Annuities.

To learn more, review Approved Professional Designations for Use in Sales of Individual Annuities.

Detailed Analysis

It is an unfair and deceptive act for an insurance producer to use a senior-specific certification or professional designation in a manner that misleads a prospective purchaser and implies that the producer has special training in advising seniors about life insurance or annuities. A deceptive senior-specific designation is prohibited whether used directly with a client, or indirectly through publications, writings, or reports on life insurance or annuities.

A prohibited senior-specific certification or professional designation includes, but is not limited to, one that:

You have not actually earned or are ineligible to use
Is nonexistent or self-conferred
Implies education, training, or experience that you do not have, and
You obtained from a certifying or designating organization that:
- Is primarily engaged in the business of instruction in sales or marketing
- Does not have reasonable standards or procedures for ensuring its designees' competence
- Does not have reasonable procedures to monitor its designees and discipline unethical conduct, or
- Does not require reasonable continuing education credits to maintain the designation

Even if its certifying or designating organization does not meet the requirements under item 4, a designation may qualify for use if:

It does not apply primarily to sales and marketing, and
The designation, or the organization that issued it, has been accredited by:
- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
- The National Commission for Certifying Agencies, or
- Any organization that is on the U.S. Department of Education's list entitled "Accrediting Agencies Recognized for Title IV Purposes"

A professional designation may imply special training in advising seniors when it combines words such as:

Senior, retirement, elder or similar words with
Certified, registered, chartered, advisor, specialist, consultant, planner or similar words

Unless used in a manner that would confuse or mislead a reasonable consumer, a job title in an organization licensed or registered by a state or federal financial services regulatory agency is not affected by this regulation when it: