Additional States Adopt New Best Interest Suitability Regulation

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Alabama, Maine, Nebraska and North Dakota adopt new Best Interest Suitability Regulation

Alabama, Maine, Nebraska and North Dakota have adopted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) revisions to the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation (#275) effective January 1, 2022.
  
The revisions impose new requirements on both producers and insurers. Most notably, producers are required to act in the best interest of the consumer when recommending an annuity purchase, by meeting Best Interest Obligations defined by the regulation.

Here’s what you’ll need to do to meet your Best Interest Obligations for these states. We will continue to update you as additional states adopt the new regulation and approve training courses.

Required training

As part of the Best Interest Standards, Alabama, Maine, Nebraska and North Dakota have implemented the following regulatory training requirements:

Nebraska:
If you were licensed in Nebraska and completed model law training before July 1, 2021, you must complete the 1-hour best interest supplemental training course or the new 4-hour training course on or prior to December 31, 2021.

For those licensed on or after July 1, 2021, the new 4-hour training course will be required before selling annuities.
 

Alabama, Maine and North Dakota:
If you were licensed in Alabama, Maine or North Dakota and completed model law training before January 1, 2022, you must complete the 1-hour best interest supplemental training course or the new 4-hour training course on or prior to June 30, 2022. For those licensed on or after January 1, 2022, the new 4-hour training course will be required before selling annuities.

Training is available through the RegEd platform. Once completed, RegEd will notify Athene that you have satisfied your requirement. While Athene will accept training through other platforms, you will need to provide us with proof of completion.

Forms and materials

As previously announced, the following Athene suitability forms have been updated to comply with best interest obligations:

Please note: Your organization may not use Athene suitability forms. Be sure to check with your back office for guidelines.

If your organization uses Athene suitability forms, the revised forms listed above will be required in all states (except FL and NY), whether the new suitability regulation has been adopted or not.
 

New – Appendix A

With the adoption of the Best Interest Standards, these states also require the use of an Insurance Agent [Producer] Disclosure for Annuities form, often referred to as Appendix A. For your convenience, we’ve created a version of Appendix A (22712, Ver. 12/20) for you to use.

Important Processing dates for Athene suitability users

For those that use Athene suitability forms, we will require a version of Appendix A (Athene’s form or another version that matches the regulation’s prescribed form) to accompany all applications received by Athene on or after market close (3 p.m. CT) on December 31, 2021.

Please note: Appendix A must be signed by both the producer and customer(s).

All new or revised materials and forms are available now on Athene Connect for all states (except Florida and New York) and should be used immediately.

Applications with outdated or missing forms that do not fall within the guidelines above will be considered “not in good order.” Be sure to use up-to-date materials when offering Athene annuities.

Still have questions?

For additional information, and to get a better understanding of Athene’s considerations during the suitability review process, please familiarize yourself with our revised producer guidelines and helpful tips:

Thank you for your business. As the market leader in fixed indexed annuities, we’re driven to outperform so your clients can retire confidently.