Mardi Gras in New Orleans ended several months ago and doesn’t come again until March 4, 2025, but Louisianans don’t have to wait another 5 1/2 months to throw a party. There’s a new cause for celebration in the Bayou State, and it has nothing to do with Bourbon Street bacchanalia.
Louisiana recently adopted a rule championed by Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple that incorporates the enhanced consumer protections in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) updated model regulation on annuity transactions. This is tremendous news for the 4.6 million people living in Louisiana.
The new rule enhances the standards financial professionals must follow and protects consumers’ access to, and information about, annuities, the only financial product in the marketplace that can provide guaranteed income for life. Thanks to this consumer protection rule, Louisiana residents will be in a strong position to achieve financial security throughout retirement.
Louisiana recently became the 47th state to adopt such measures. All told, more than 95% of Americans now live in a state that has adopted an enhanced best interest standard. Building on this momentum, the remaining states are considering measures to further protect their citizens.
The actions in the states closely align with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest and, unlike the Department of Labor’s recent ill-advised fiduciary-only regulation, these harmonized measures ensure that savers, particularly financially vulnerable middle-income Americans, can access annuities and information about other options for their retirement savings.
The DOL’s regulation rehashes its failed 2016 measure that, before it was struck down by a federal court, resulted in more than 10 million American workers’ accounts, with $900 billion in savings, losing access to professional financial guidance. With more than 4.1 million Americans turning 65 each year through 2027, public policy should be helping to expand people’s options for retirement, not restricting them.
A recent survey shows that retirement savers overwhelmingly want the freedom to work with any kind of financial professional who is offering products and services that meet their needs. Thanks to the enhanced state and federal consumer protections adopted by Louisiana, 46 other states, and the SEC, savers can be secure that financial professionals must act in the consumer’s best interest when offering recommendations about annuities. The U.S. Congress reaffirmed the importance of lifetime income when it passed legislation in 2019 and 2022 to make it easier for employers to include annuities in workplace retirement plans and simpler for savers and retirees to utilize annuities.
We look forward to the remaining states which currently lack practical consumer protections joining Louisiana and the rest of the country in making these important best interest changes. Then all Americans working to protect their family’s financial future can party like it’s Mardi Gras.
Laura Leigh Latta is Regional Vice President, State Relations at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). She is responsible for state legislative and regulatory affairs in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Laura Leigh leads ACLI’s advocacy team on issues related to tax, unclaimed property, and state guaranty associations.
NAIFA-Louisiana President Blake Gillies is from Metairie, La.