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April 28, 2010 at 08:00 PM
The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration has approved a settlement agreement that resolves an investigation involving suitability of indexed annuity sales.
The Vermont department negotiated the agreement with Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Golden Valley, Minn., a unit of Allianz S.E., Munich, Germany, officials say.
The agreement concludes an investigation by the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration of indexed annuity sales that Allianz completed in Vermont from 2002 through 2005, department officials say.
Department investigators found that some Allianz annuities were sold to seniors aged 65 and older who later surrendered their annuity at a loss, and some of those sales might have been unlawful because producers failed to get sufficient information from those seniors to evaluate the products’ suitability for them, officials say.
Allianz has since rectified the practices the department had objected to, according to Paulette Thabault, the Vermont insurance commissioner.
After reviewing the changes Allianz has made in annuity sales practices, the Vermont department praised the company for “its proactive efforts to comply with Vermont law and properly represent products to consumers,” department officials report.
