NAIC annuity training platform to launch in November

The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and RegEd, a financial industry training company, signed Tuesday a letter of intent to offer a product-specific training platform and four-hour course program that meets the educational requirements mandated by the NAIC Model Regulation. The platform’s goal is to eliminate confusion in different state and insurer training requirements. The industry-wide platform, to be launched on Nov. 22, will include insurer-produced, product-specific training, as well as state-approved required training.

IRI President and CEO Cathy Weatherford said, “The development and launch of this educational platform was done in direct response to the critical need of our industry to meet these new requirements in a way that would ensure minimal impact on the consumers who rely on insured retirement strategies for guaranteed income.” Weatherford said that the platform will also be beneficial to the industry by providing an educational connection between insurers, producers and regulators.

The platform will provide:

• A central location where a producer can complete all required training requirements and view the status of compliance with the Model Regulation, including updated training posted to the site subsequent to initial training
• A dedicated location where insurers can publish and update their product-specific training courses
• ability to print certificates of completion online
• An e-mail notification system enabling insurers to notify producers of new or updated product specific training requirements
• Customized data feeds and real-time search tools for insurers and broker/dealers

RegEd CEO John M. Schobel said, “More than 750,000 financial services professionals visit RegEd every year to complete compliance requirements and a significant percentage of these individuals overlap with IRI’s membership. Combining our technology and content with IRI’s deep subject matter expertise and industry leadership creates the ideal solution to ensure that carriers, distributors and producers remain in compliance with minimal distraction and maximum efficiency.”