Regulators have decided to proceed with efforts to develop model laws relating to annuity suitability and producer use of professional designations.
Members of the Life Insurance and Annuities Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., have voted unanimously to approve efforts to create the models.
Some states, such as Florida, Iowa and Missouri, already are acting on the suitability issue, officials say.
Florida lawmakers, for example, have enacted a new annuity sales suitability law because "we found a lot of abuses specific in relation to annuities," according to Mary Beth Senkiewicz, a deputy insurance commissioner in Florida.
But states have been looking for a way to address the annuity suitability issue in a more uniform fashion.