Voya Financial Advisors Gets FINRA Penalty Over Life Sales

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered Voya Financial Advisors to pay a $500,000 fine and accept FINRA censure in connection with allegations involving sales of variable universal life insurance.

FINRA asserts that Voya paid about $2.9 million from March 2018 through September 2019 to an unregistered limited liability company in connection with the VUL sales.

The LLC was owned mainly by an agent who was not registered with FINRA, the regulator says.

Voya received about $8.7 million in gross compensation related to the VUL sales, paid compensation to its own registered reps, paid $2.9 million to the LLC and ended up with $545,000 of the gross compensation.

The arrangement violated a FINRA rule that prohibits member firms from making payments to persons that are not registered as broker-dealers and should be registered, according to a FINRA letter summarizing the allegations.

FINRA said it will not bring any further action against Voya if Voya accepts the FINRA findings, and that it will let Voya accept the findings without admitting or denying them.

The matter originated with a regulatory tip, according to FINRA.

Voya indicated in a comment that it is accepting the findings.

“Voya Financial Advisors has settled this matter with FINRA, and we are pleased that this matter has been resolved,” Voya said.

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