States to Send New CEO Into Annuity Sales Standards Fight

News March 18, 2024 at 12:28 PM
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Gary Anderson. Credit: NAIC

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has named Gary Anderson to be its new chief executive officer.

Anderson will take over as CEO May 1, after his term as Massachusetts' insurance commissioner ends, NAIC officials announced Saturday in Phoenix, at the group's spring national meeting.

What it means: Anderson will have a key seat at the table when insurers, financial services groups and state insurance regulators are wrestling with the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress over the standards that should apply to sales of annuities and other financial services products.

The NAIC: Federal law leaves regulation of the business of insurance to the states.

The NAIC is a Kansas City, Missouri-based group that helps state insurance regulators coordinate their activities and work with the federal government.

It has about 520 employees and reported generating $151 million in revenue on $192 million in assets in 2023, according to its new annual report.

Andrew Mais, the Connecticut insurance commissioner, will continue to be the group's president.

The NAIC is involved in many legislative efforts in Washington, ranging from Medicare plan marketing standards to ideas for holding down the cost of personal property insurance.

The NAIC has also developed and updated many sets of annuity sales standards over the years. Today, the NAIC is promoting an annuity suitability model update it developed to complement the SEC's Regulation Best Interest to serve as a potential alternative to the efforts by the Labor Department to impose a fiduciary standard on individuals and companies that help retirement savers roll assets from 401(k) plans or individual retirement arrangements into nonvariable annuities.

The NAIC's role in regulation of traditional fixed annuities and nonvariable indexed annuities is especially strong, because the SEC has no jurisdiction over nonvariable annuities. The NAIC and the SEC share jurisdiction over sales of variable annuities, including both traditional variable annuities and registered index-linked annuity contracts, or RILA contracts.

Gary Anderson: Anderson has been working in state government in Massachusetts since 2014.

He was appointed to be commissioner by the state's governor in 2017.

At the NAIC, he has served on the Government Relations Leadership Council and the Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Committee. He also serves as the vice chair of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors executive committee.

He has a bachelor's degree from Idaho State University and a law degree from Union University's Albany Law School.

He succeeds Andy Beal, the NAIC's chief operating officer, who has been the acting CEO for about a year.

The previous permanent CEO was Mike Consedine, a former Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, who held the post from 2017 through 2023. Consedine is now executive vice president and head of U.S. government and regulatory relations at Athene, an arm of Apollo Global Management.

Gary Anderson. Credit: NAIC

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