SEC Plans To Move On Index Annuities This Year

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to address the status of equity indexed annuities soon.

“Possibly as early as this month,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in a June 13 speech, “we’ll consider a proposed rule to deal with the long standing investor protection issue of equity-indexed annuities, and when they should be treated as securities.

“This is an important issue on which we’ve been closely collaborating with NASAA [the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc.] and our state securities regulatory counterparts. And it is of particular importance to senior investors.”