IMSA qualification seen as oversight tool

Membership in an ethics-based organization is supposed to exhibit a company’s commitment to best practices and doing the right thing. To at least one state insurance commissioner, that commitment means something. Susan Voss, insurance commissioner for the state of Iowa, believes companies that are members of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association exhibit a higher standard.

In Bulletin 06-04, Voss said IMSA-qualified companies are “at less risk to be in violation of Iowa laws and regulations concerning the sale of life insurance and annuity products.” The bulletin goes on to say that the Iowa Division of Insurance will allocate more resources to monitor and examine companies that are not IMSA members.