Investigators participating in a nationwide sweep appear to be finding specific problems with the methods used to sell annuities to senior citizens and pre-retirees.
Mary Ann Gadziala, associate director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, gave investment industry compliance professionals a glimpse of the SEC's thinking here in October, during a speech at a meeting of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, Cornwall Bridge, Conn.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and Patricia Struck, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, Washington, announced in May that their organizations were teaming up with state regulators and self-regulatory organizations to look at the activities of broker-dealers, investment advisors, investment companies and other organizations in communities where there are large numbers of retirees.
The SEC is conducting "almost 90″ suitability examinations related to the investigation at broker-dealers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, Gadziala said, according to a written version of her remarks.
