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Wisconsin Panel To Review Annuity Sales Practices

8/2/07, WISCONSIN - (National Underwriter Online News Service)
The Wisconsin insurance commissioner’s office is setting up an Annuity Sales Supervision Advisory Committee.

The committee will start meeting by the end of the summer, and it is supposed to make recommendations for improving annuity sales practices – and insurance company supervision of annuity producers –within 18 months, according to Sean Dilweg, Wisconsin’s insurance commissioner.

“We feel that it is time to get a better handle on what we can do about the questionable sales practices we’ve been seeing in our complaint files and hearing about in the market,” Dilweg says in a statement about the new committee.

Wisconsin Deputy Insurance Commissioner Kimberly Shaul will chair the annuity advisory committee. Members will include producers and insurance industry representatives as well as state lawmakers, regulators of other financial institutions, and consumer groups, officials say.

“The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance has seen some very questionable annuity sales practices over the past several years, especially when seniors are involved,” officials say. “The tax consequences of surrendering an annuity coupled with, at times, high and long-lasting surrender charges calls into question the suitability of some of these annuity sales.”

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