For Kansas VA Bill, Will the Third Time Be The Charm?

Indeed, the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, says the added layer of regulation would be costly and unnecessary.

It is an assertion Kansas Securities Commissioner David Brant disputes, saying consumers have been harmed as an increase in the number of complaints illustrates. Consequently, he continues, they need the protection of additional scrutiny that securities regulation would bring.

But Carl Wilkerson, chief counsel of securities and litigation with the ACLI, disagrees, citing the cost of a product that he says is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers and state insurance regulators. The exclusive authority of state insurance departments to regulate variable products would also be countered by this bill, he contends.

Other states–including Arkansas, Missouri and North Dakota–are also considering changes to their securities laws.

For instance, in Arkansas, H.B. 1529 and in Missouri, S.B. 427, leave variable products including variable annuities under the auspices of state insurance departments. And in North Dakota, S.B. 2084 leaves variable annuities in the category of exempt securities in the North Dakota Century Code, a body of law for the state.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 10, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.