Annuity supporters are fighting to ensure that fixed indexed annuities get treated the same as other fixed annuities and not lumped in with securities products under the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule.
The newly formed group, the Fixed Annuity Consumer Choice Campaign, or FACC Campaign, is gathering signatures for a petition to be sent to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta "urging him to delay implementation" of the fiduciary rule exemptions to July 1, 2019, and "fix the treatment of fixed indexed annuities."
More than 1,800 signatures have been received so far, the group said.
As it stands now, fixed indexed annuities fall under the fiduciary rule's best-interest contract exemption, or BICE.
"That creates an unlevel playing field that inherently disfavors fixed annuity providers and products," the group states on the website.
"Placing FIAs in BICE would have severe adverse repercussions for consumers by limiting choice in the IRA marketplace and would violate the spirit of the Harkin Amendment, which was adopted by Congress to distinguish regulatory treatment of FIAs from securities products," the group's website states.
