The Securities and Exchange Commission will consider a proposed rule to deal with equity-indexed annuities, SEC chairman Christopher Cox said today.
“Possibly as early as this month, 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,” Mr. Cox said at a Washington conference on “Next Generation Asset Management” sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute of Charlottesville, Va.
The SEC has been working with the North American Securities Administrators Association Inc. of Washington on the issue, Mr. Cox said.
“It is of particular importance to senior investors,” he said.
Insurance regulators maintain that equity-indexed annuities are insurance products and therefore should not be regulated by securities regulators. But some state securities regulators believe they should be regulated like securities because they are sold like securities.
The SEC will adopt a final principal trading rule for broker-dealers and investment advisers this summer, Mr. Cox said.
Under the temporary rule now in effect, dually registered broker-dealer investment advisory firms can sell securities owned by the firm if disclosures are provided.
Streamlined registration for exchange-traded funds and changes to financial privacy regulations will be finalized this summer, Mr. Cox said.
Mr. Cox also promised “quick action on a proposal for new interpretive guidance on soft dollars.” “Soft dollars” refers to payments made to brokerage firms through commission revenue.
1 comment:
The best thing about index annuities is that they offer the opportunity for higher returns than many bank or traditional fixed rate vehicles by linking the interest rate to certain equity indexes.
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