NAIFA Must Become Nimble, CEO Says

By Susan Rupe InsuranceNewsNet

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Kevin Mayeux wants the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors to be more like BMW and less like Kodak or Blockbuster.

Mayeux, NAIFA's CEO, outlined some of the steps his organization is taking to become more nimble and relevant while making the rest of the world aware of what its members are doing. He spoke at Monday's NAIFA-Pennsylvania annual meeting.

He gave Kodak and Blockbuster as two examples of iconic brands that fell out of the public eye because they failed to change with the times. Meanwhile, he said, BMW went from making equipment for the Axis nations during World War II to making pots and pans during the post-war years to eventually manufacturing motorcycles and then automobiles.

NAIFA's membership has been on a downward track for 26 years, Mayeux said, and the organization's leadership is taking steps to regain its relevancy and burnish its brand.

"NAIFA is going to do more bragging from now on," he said, noting that the association has had a strong role in helping form public policy around the tax-favored treatment of financial and investment products.

Most recently, Mayeux said, NAIFA has been working with the Securities and Exchange Commission, encouraging them to take the lead in establishing a best interest standard of conduct for broker-dealers and their registered representatives.

"We are trying to get the SEC to understand the relationships that our members have with their clients, and that our members do act in accordance with their clients' best interests," he said.

The SEC approved a tentative rule last week that sets a best-interest standard that some are calling "suitability plus." Those rules are subject to public comment and a public hearing and could be adopted later this year.

Regarding the rules, NAIFA favors a standard that would be "clean and crisp, above board and easily digestible to the agent and broker-dealer side," Mayeux said.

"The language about advisors needs clarity regarding the difference between an advisor and an investment advisor," he said.

Telling Its Story

Mayeux said NAIFA will tell its story is by revamping its public awareness campaign, https://advisorsyoucantrust.org. The association will promote the website as a place where consumers can go to find a NAIFA member who can give them financial advice. It also will be promoted to non-members, who will be urged to join and have their names listed among Advisors You Can Trust.

NAIFA also will air 150 30-second commercials on Bloomberg TV in the first two weeks of May, telling consumers how members can provide them with trusted financial advice.

NAIFA also is partnering with ITN, a British television network that is the private-sector version of the BBC, to create a news-style program that will be available online and for distribution through its state and local associations.

"Planning Your Future" will be an online program featuring interviews, news items, and sponsored editorial profiles of leaders and key organizations. The goal, Mayeux said, is to showcase the role of financial advisors in helping individuals, families and businesses make financial choices to achieve their dreams and secure their future.

The association has launched its first center, the NAIFA Center for Excellence in Long Term Care to equip agents and advisors with information, designation and educational resources in order to meet consumers’ growing needs for advice and solutions in long-term care.

The online resource is the first in a series of "centers" that NAIFA plans to create in order to serve advisors and consumers, Mayeux said. In the works are a Center for Fraternals that would serve advisors working in the fraternal insurance market such as Knights of Columbus or Thrivent, a Center for Disability Insurance and a Center for Advanced Practices.

Quality Member Experience

NAIFA members will vote next month on whether to implement a bylaws change that would affect the way its 52 state associations and 550 local associations conduct business. Such a change, Mayeux said, would make the association more nimble while strengthening the local associations.

The Quality Member Experience would change the NAIFA federation structure. Currently, the state and local associations operate more or less independently, with a different dues structure for each one. Under QME, the state and local associations would become chapters under the national association with a consistent dues structure. The goal is to have fewer but more successful associations.

QME would give the state associations more authority and flexibility to direct resources to its locals, such as planning events and conducting administrative duties. "This will free up our local association volunteers from some of the administrivia involved in serving," Mayeux said.

The loss of many of NAIFA's local associations over the years has been a consequence of declining membership and a difficulty in finding people to serve as volunteers on the local level.

"Why do so many NAIFA local associations fold? It's because they become too small," he said

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan. Contact her at [email protected].