The Insured Retirement Institute is seeking to re-energize support for long-stalled federal legislation, the purpose of which is to ease the licensing burden on insurance agents.
The legislation would establish the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers or NARAB.
The legislation was introduced in the Senate in April by Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb, S. 2342. Companion House legislation was introduced last year as H.R. 1112.
The IRI plan is to launch a new research initiative that would identify regulatory burdens facing broker-dealers that impede their ability, and financial advisors’ willingness, to sell such products as annuities.
The research initiative announcement was made by IRI Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lee Covington at the outset of the 2012 IRI Government, Legal, and Regulatory Conference, now underway in Washington, D.C.
IRI intends for the research to support its efforts to pursue a one-stop, national insurance agent licensing system, as well as reforms to address other regulatory hurdles, according IRI president and CEO Kathy Weatherford.
“We are focused and committed to working with policymakers to reduce barriers to attaining lifetime income so that all Americans may enjoy a financially secure retirement,” she says. “This includes identifying and removing regulatory red tape and other obstacles that are preventing the broker-dealer community from making insured retirement strategies more readily available.