NAIFA Pushes For Uniform Producer Licensing

NU Online News Service, June 3, 2 p.m. – Groups that support a federal system for agent licensing point to the lack of uniform requirements among the states as a major influence on their decision, industry sources say.

As a supporter of state regulation of insurance, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors would like to see more uniformity across the different states and continues to work closely with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to achieve that task, officials at NAIFA say.

“If you applied for a nonresident license in one state and the requirements are completely different than your resident state, you might have to fulfill additional requirements before you could get that license,” William Anderson, vice president and associate general counsel for NAIFA, Falls Church, Va., explains. “We’re trying to get to the point where you don’t have to fulfill any additional requirements.”

The push for more uniform requirements among states comes as a result of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999, which requires 29 states to grant reciprocity to nonresident agents by November 2003. If this requirement is not met, the National Association for Registration of Agents and Brokers will be formed to act as a central clearing house for agent licensing, says Anderson.