A new information printed by the Licensed Monetary Planner Board of Requirements helps monetary professionals examine the necessities of the CFB Board’s inside code of ethics and requirements with annuity gross sales rules adopted by the Nationwide Affiliation of Insurance coverage Commissioners (NAIC).

Particularly, the brand new CFP Board useful resource considers how the group’s personal advisor conduct requirements match up towards the NAIC’s Suitability in Annuity Transactions Mannequin Regulation, which was initially accredited in 2020 within the wake of the adoption of Regulation Greatest Curiosity by the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee.

The NAIC is the nationwide standard-setting physique for state-based insurance coverage regulators within the U.S., and as of late 2023, greater than 30 states have taken voluntary motion to undertake its framework for the truthful sale and servicing of annuities to retail clients.

The NAIC rule’s conduct requirements are considerably much like these of the SEC’s Reg BI, however they do differ in some necessary methods with respect to the CFP Board’s code of ethics and requirements.

As such, the brand new comparability information is designed to assist CFP professionals perceive some necessary similarities and variations between the NAIC mannequin regulation and the CFP Board code. It additionally clarifies that, in instances the place the CFP requirements set a better bar of conduct than the NAIC mannequin regulation, CFP professionals are obligated to stick to the CFP necessities.

“The inspiration of the CFP code and requirements is its fiduciary obligation,” CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller mentioned in an announcement accompanying the brand new information. “As this information makes clear, a CFP skilled makes a dedication to CFP Board to behave as a fiduciary and, subsequently, to behave in the very best pursuits of the shopper always when offering monetary recommendation.”

NAIC vs. CFP Board Requirements

The brand new in-depth information runs is 13 pages lengthy and features a substantial quantity of textual content evaluating the necessities of the CFP Board code and the NAIC mannequin rules, however as famous in Keller’s announcement, there are 4 main areas of disagreement between the 2 frameworks.

First, the CFP Board code imposes a blanket fiduciary obligation on CFP certificants, whereas the mannequin regulation doesn’t use the fiduciary language and doesn’t characterize a real fiduciary normal. From a sensible standpoint, this implies dwelling as much as the NAIC normal is extra a matter of transparency and disclosure versus a matter of outright permitted and unpermitted conduct.

That’s, the mannequin regulation gives {that a} producer, when making a advice of an annuity, shall act in the very best curiosity of the patron underneath the circumstances recognized on the time the advice is made, with out inserting the producer’s or the insurer’s monetary curiosity forward of the patron’s curiosity.