The Annuity Suitability Working Group aims to tentatively finalize a standard for annuity sales by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Fall Meeting in November. Debate over whether to add “prudence” to the model law dominated another 90-minute conference call Monday.

The DOL issued a regulation expanding multi-employer retirement plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The rule is aimed at expanding access to saving options by clarifying the circumstances under which an employer group or association or professional employment organization may sponsor a multiple employer workplace retirement plan.

The Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU) and GAMA International today announced they will merge into one organization by June 2020. This organization will be “the first of its kind in the industry,” representing all distribution channels and bringing together the strengths of AALU’s advocacy and GAMA’s leadership, officials said in a news release.

It was supposed to be an all-in, surefire thing back in May when the Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act passed the House of Representatives in an overwhelming 417-3 vote of support. Proponents of the bill had hoped for a quick passage in the Senate, but two months later, the proposed retirement legislation seems destined to hang in limbo for the remainder of the summer due to a Republican hold on the bill in the Senate and the budget agreement closing off additional measures.

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There were 87 insurance company transactions during the year, the highest number tracked by Tiburon Strategic Advisors in at least five years. Fueled by the mega-merger between CVS Health and Aetna, the 87 transactions averaged $971 million per deal, more than twice the 2017 average.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute looked at spending patterns of older households and found that spending varies upon whether the households are singles or couples, or whether they are in retirement or currently working.

The Senate will wait until after the August recess to vote on a health care bill that would require health benefits brokers to disclose their commissions, The Hill reported today. The Lower Health Care Costs Act was introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The Annuity Suitability Working Group is working through five questions in a bid to finalize an annuity sales model law that regulators have been working on for more than a year. Members are focusing on insurers in a bid to rein in annuity sales incentives.

The first half of 2019 saw 328 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions, according to OPTIS Partners’ M&A database. That is the second-highest six-month total, trailing only the first half of 2017 when 333 transactions were reported. A record 665 transactions closed in the past 12 months, OPTIS said.

The Annuity Disclosure Working Group is studying a proposal to increase the time indexes must be in existence to be used in annuity illustrations from 10 to 15 years. But regulators are having difficulty getting past a couple of key issues.

Total new premium for individual life combination products dropped 2% to $4.3 billion in 2018, according to LIMRA. Life combination products provide life insurance coverage with long-term care or chronic illness coverage, an attractive value proposition to consumers. In 2018, combination products represented 27% of the overall U.S. individual life insurance market.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s office said the state may push for a best-interest annuity sales rule similar to New York’s if the NAIC doesn’t tighten up its annuity sales proposal. An NAIC working group has two conference calls and an in-person meeting to discuss the rule over the next two weeks.

AmeriLife Group, an independent marketing organization, has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management, an advisory firm. The combined organization will have more than $3.5 billion in annual life, health and annuity premiums and $2.7 billion in assets under management (AUM).

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