Annuity Producers:

1. Review the regulations that apply in your state(s) and for your carrier(s):

               State-by-State Training Requirements for Suitability Training (4 Hour CE)

2. Select course(s) to fulfill those requirements:

Why is training mandatory for annuity producers?

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners finalized its Suitability in Annuities Regulation in March of 2010. For the first time the Regulation requires annuity producers to receive mandatory suitability and product training.

This action was taken to ensure that all annuity producers understand new suitability requirements designed to protect consumers and that products are represented accurately. The suitability training must be taken through a state-authorized continuing education provider and must be at least four hours in length. Specific content must be addressed, including any additional subjects required by specific states.

Product training must be obtained according to standards delivered by represented carriers. ClearCert's network of annuity carriers and training firms provides maximum choice for producer training while also providing ease of training validation.

How many states have enacted mandatory training for annuity producers?

As of October 1st, 2011, fifteen states have implemented training requirements based upon the NAIC Regulation. Three others - TX, FL and CA - have implemented a state-specific training requirement. The Regulation calls on all states to implement this requirement before the end of 2013.

How is this training different from Continuing Education?

Although the suitability training must be taken through an authorized CE provider, and most producers completing courses in their resident states will receive CE credit, insurance carriers, not state insurance departments, must validate producer compliance. Carriers also must develop standards for product training and must validate that its brokers and producers are in compliance with both the one-time course and product training.

With CE, producers generally receive reciprocal credit from non-resident states for meeting license requirements in their resident states. It is important to note that reciprocal credit is granted for meeting another state's similar training requirement, not for completing a course in another state. Because it is impossible to meet a requirement that has not yet been implemented, completing a course prior to the effective date of a state's training requirement is not valid for reciprocal credit in another state in which the requirement is effective.

Also note that while CE credit is optional, you must complete a course that has been approved for the Suitability in Annuities training requirement in one of your licensed states. This course completion should result in the issuance of a certificate to you by the training provider that displays the date of course completion and identifies the state, course name and course number for which credit toward the Regulation was issued - regardless of whether you received CE credits. A certificate that does not include this information is not proof of compliance.

Won't training requirements be identical in all states, since they are based on the 2010 Regulation?

Although the 2010 Suitability in Annuities Regulation provided a template for mandatory training, states retain the right to decide the specific details of the training requirement upon implementation. This will lead to state-by-state differences in areas such as:

• whether additional state-specific content must be included in courses
• whether a certain type of approval will be awarded to eligible courses
• whether brokers and producers must take a course in their resident states
• how and whether reciprocity is allowed for non-resident licensees
• whether courses must be repeated at future intervals

How will states communicate their training requirements to the industry?

In most cases state insurance departments will determine and communicate the training requirements directly to the industry through insurance bulletins or websites. In some cases certain elements - such as course content requirements - are communicated only to course providers or insurance carriers.

A major challenge is determining whether a particular course has been specifically approved for meeting the training requirement. Some states post lists of approved courses. Only ClearCert publishes a list of all approved courses for which members of our Carrier Authorized Provider Network have obtained state approval for use in meeting the Suitability in Annuities 4-hour course requirement. 

Of course, training firms are also a source of information about mandatory training, as are insurance carriers. However, since insurance carriers are ultimately responsible for validating producer training compliance, their communications regarding training requirements should be considered the "gold standard." ClearCert  represents state-by-state training requirements and certified courses as authorized by our participating carriers.

What is ClearCert's role?

ClearCert is an independent company through which all training providers and insurance carriers in the annuity industry can work together toward a low-cost, common sense solution that minimizes confusion while maximizing choice in training. We are not affiliated with any carrier, training firm or third-party CE administrator. We are committed to maintaining the freedom of producers and brokers to choose from the widest possible selection of quality courses while ensuring that carriers, distributors and broker dealers can easily validate compliance status without any action on the producer's part. Each training provider participating in ClearCert agrees to provide records of course completions to our database for direct access by participating carriers and brokers. This "first generation" of reporting purity is the same as is demanded by state education departments and is more accurate than relying on faxed copies of certificates.

ClearCert provides a way for participating carriers to adopt standardized training requirements, minimizing potential confusion. Each participating carrier assigns representatives to actively work with ClearCert to ensure that training requirements are clearly and accurately stated and that producers have the largest possible selection of training courses to choose from.