I was more than a little surprised to see Met Life weighing in on the side of the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the SEC's move with Rule 151A to regulate some indexed annuities as securities.
Maybe I shouldn't have been. But truth is I can't recall one instance in the long life of the Peanuts strip where Snoopy was shown biting someone. This move of Met's strikes me as being characteristic of quite another animal. Bam! Before you know it the thing's got its pointy sharp little teeth in your ankle and won't let go.
Met's amicus brief, wherein it supported the SEC, said "federal regulation of indexed annuities as securities is an appropriate exercise of the SEC's rulemaking authority."
Met notes in the brief that it does not sell equity indexed annuities, but does sell variable annuities, however. Not selling EIAs, of course, gives it the perfect right to opine on their regulation, this being America after all.
Some investors may confuse EIAs with VAs, Met says. "Inadequate regulation of indexed annuities thus tarnishes the reputation of other annuity issuers, including MetLife and the insurance industry as a whole."
