INFRONT
Busy Year Expected For Insurance Regulation A new fiduciary rule is expected to land sometime in the spring. It will join a crowd of regulators and lawmakers trying to make it safer and easier for Americans to save for retirement. By John Hilton
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s 2022 gets underway, it is shaping up to be another big year for political and regulatory changes impacting financial services. Start at the top, where President Joe Biden enters his second year in office. The clock is ticking on the administration’s ability to get any major priorities through Congress. If precedent holds true, Congress will largely cease to function by the middle of 2022 as members focus on reelection. Republicans are favored to retake 4
control of the House of Representatives, which which would further hamper Biden’s ability to get major legislation passed. He would not be the first president to ride out his final two years in a political gridlock. By far, the most interesting big-ticket item on the docket is the Department of Labor fiduciary rule reboot. Biden was in the vice president’s office when the DOL first pushed out a fiduciary rule in 2015. It was tossed out by a federal appeals court two years later. Whether the DOL can craft a successful fiduciary standard this time around — the new rule is expected to be published in the spring — will be a major 2022 storyline. Otherwise, Republicans and Democrats might be able to again agree on retirement security legislation. It might be the lone bipartisan issue in all of Washington, D.C. But they are certain to continue haggling over tax policy for the remainder of
InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » January 2022
Biden’s time in office. All of these issues will have major implications for advisors and their clients. At the state level, new annuity sales rules continue to take hold, substituting a best-interest standard for suitability. As of press time, 18 states had passed an annuity sales model update pushed out by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The financial services industry is preparing to fight any fiduciary standard at the state and federal levels. “Unlike a fiduciary-only approach [a best-interest standard], make sure savers, particularly financially vulnerable middle-income Americans, can access information about different choices for long-term security throughout retirement,” said the American Council of Life Insurers and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors in a joint statement.
