Annuity News

December 2011

Producer Advisory: Annuity Training Requirements

From:
Diane Hodgman, ChFC, AIRC
Compliance Analyst, Individual Annuities

State:
Indiana

Legislation:
House Bills 1486 & 1015

Bulletin:
184

Effective:
January 1, 2012

Subject:
Annuity Training Requirements

Indiana House Bills 1486 and 1015 change producer licensing laws by requiring annuity producers to receive continuing education credits in annuities, as well as training in the features of the insurers' products they sell. Department of Insurance Bulletin 184 summarizes these requirements.

Producer Training

One-Time CE Training

An insurance producer may not sell an annuity in Indiana without adequate knowledge of annuity products. Effective Jan. 1, 2012, an Indiana annuity producer must complete four CE credits of annuity training in a course or courses approved by the Indiana Department of Insurance. This is a one-time requirement.

Producers who are already selling annuities on Jan. 1, 2012, must complete the training by July 1, 2012. Producers beginning to sell annuities after Jan. 1 must earn their credits before they can sell them. Non-resident annuity producers whose resident licenses are from states with licensing requirements substantially similar to Indiana's need not repeat a four-credit course if their original course satisfies Indiana's requirement.

The Indiana Department of Insurance website can help producers find state-approved continuing education courses.

Before recommending any individual annuity product offered by The Standard, producers must submit proof of completed CE training to us. Before July 1, 2012, Indiana producers appointed with The Standard on or before Jan. 1 must certify their four-credit training to us by submitting our form Insurance Producer Acknowledgment of Completion of Annuity Training, along with a copy of their course certificate. We also require training certification from each producer newly contracting with The Standard in order to sell our annuities.

Producers can find the form on our website and return the acknowledgment and certificate to us by email, fax: 877.247.5473 or mail: Producer Services, 900 SW 5th Ave., Portland, OR 97204.

Product Features Training

Indiana's law prohibits producers from selling an insurer's annuities without having been trained in its products' features and requires insurers to verify that producers have completed their product-features training.

Producers already appointed with The Standard in Indiana must complete our product features training by Jan. 31, 2012. After Jan. 1, annuity producers newly contracting with us must complete the training before they can sell The Standard's annuities.

Producers can find a training module on the Annuities page of our website. Select State-Required Training and review the information provided.

Suitability Of Annuity Sales

The Indiana Department of Insurance requires annuity producers, in being knowledgeable about annuity products, to be aware of and compliant with Rule 72, Consumer Protections in Annuity Transactions. Producers should ensure that that an annuity recommendation is suitable for the consumer. The IDOI specifically calls for producers to consider the consumer's age when analyzing the suitability of a sale. The Department is particularly concerned about annuity sales to consumers over the age of 80 and reminds producers to maintain adequate documentation of reasonable efforts to determine suitability in these cases.