A Statement From the RegEd Executive Team There are times when we must make clear what values we hold and state them clearly, and we feel strongly that this is one of those times. Remaining silent is not an option. RegEd has always stood for diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity for all. Intolerance and discrimination have never had a place in our organization or in our communities. We stand with our colleagues and our communities who are hurting right now and have been hurt for centuries, with those who have been murdered, oppressed, or marginalized because of the color of […]
Continue readingMore TagThe New Best Interest Standard for Annuity Sales: An Overview of Revisions to the NAIC’s Model Regulation #275
Download as PDF In February 2020, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) approved revisions to its Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation (#275). The revised regulation requires that all annuity recommendations by producers and insurers meet a “best interest” standard. Under the new model regulation, insurance producers and carriers may not place their financial interests ahead of the consumer’s interest when recommending an annuity product. Furthermore, insurers are required to establish and maintain a system to supervise producer recommendations, so the insurance needs and financial objectives of consumers are addressed effectively. The new model also prohibits an insurer from […]
Continue readingMore TagRegEd Announces Expansion of Enterprise Compliance Platform with Gifts, Gratuities and Contributions Management
The all-new enterprise solution is the industry’s only for-purpose technology for the submission, approval, tracking and reconciliation of gifts, entertainment, non-cash compensation and political contributions. RegEd, the leading provider of compliance technology solutions for the financial services industry, has announced the expansion of its Enterprise Compliance Management platform to address the multitude of requirements associated with gifts, gratuities and contributions management. Gifts, Gratuities and Contributions Management (GGC) leverages RegEd’s powerful platform capabilities to enable comprehensive monitoring, workflow-directed task management, real-time alerts to exceptions, and sophisticated hierarchy management to enable firms to drive efficiency throughout the end-to-end tracking of gifts, entertainment, non-cash compensation […]
Continue readingMore TagRegulatory Insights Regarding Compliance Assessments of Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS
These are certainly interesting days. So much is taking the attention of compliance professionals. By now everyone has implemented their business continuity plans (BCP) and likely made modifications to them here and there as the true test of these plans has been realized. BCP has now become yet another compliance ball to juggle for the foreseeable future. BCP recordkeeping will be important so be sure to track as you go. Regulators are certain to ask about this in upcoming exams. Now that everyone is settled into their temporary work environments and any BCP gaps have been shored up, the looming […]
Continue readingMore TagRegEd Announces COVID-19 Resource Center
The site will support industry firms’ ability to manage the influx of new regulatory activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. RegEd, the leading provider of compliance technology solutions to the financial services industry, today announced that it has established the RegEd COVID-19 Resource Center, which aggregates regulatory activity impacting the financial services industry, related to the scope of regulations that RegEd products and services cover. “At RegEd, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our clients, employees, and our community. We’re committed to providing the support and resources to navigate this challenging time and support them in […]
Continue readingMore TagLeverage Pre-Audit Questionnaires to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Risk of Non-Compliance
The introduction of RegEd’s Pre-audit questionnaire (PAQ) functionality for Audit Management has enabled compliance and audit professionals to ensure that all pertinent data collected via questionnaires is automatically populated, reducing the need for manual transfer and significantly improving audit cycle time, while reducing the risk of input error. With PAQ’s, auditors and audit schedulers can complete their audit cycle workflows from within a unified tool – schedule audits, designate auditees, assign pre-audit questionnaires, or make changes to distribution recipients from within the solution, for example. With pre-audit questionnaires, compliance programs are able to benefit from: Reduced travel requirements, amount of […]
Continue readingMore TagAdvertising Review: Leverage Next Gen Annotation Tools to Streamline the Review Process
RegEd is excited to announce expanded support for annotations within the industry-leading Enterprise Advertising Review solution. Reviewers and submitters can now annotate materials using their browser of choice (Internet Explorer 11, Chrome v75+, Firefox v62+, Edge v44+) to allow more flexibility according to their preferences. Additionally, users may now optionally ‘lock’ annotation comments such that only the individual that submitted the comment will be permitted to delete it, regardless of when created in the review process. The enhanced annotation tool allows reviewers to easily provide specific feedback on review items by adding comments, highlighting and leveraging various markup tools. Subsequently, […]
Continue readingMore TagCE Council Fall 2019 Firm Element Advisory Topics
Every year, RegEd reviews the latest guidance on CE Council Firm Element topics. Several times a year, the CE Council, established by FINRA to oversee the continuing education rules, writes the regulatory element exams and issues guidance on what they consider appropriate FE training topics. Following are some highlights of new or updated topics as they appear in the recent Fall Advisory. Alternative Investments Digital Assets: Updated for Reg. Notice 19-24: Encourages firms to keep FINRA abreast of their activities related to digital assets. Cryptocurrencies: An alert to warn investors to be cautious when considering shares of companies that tout […]
Continue readingMore TagObservations From FINRA’s January 2020 Disciplinary Actions Report
Outside business activities and private securities transactions were a focus of FINRA’s January 2020 Disciplinary Actions Report with at least nine (9) cases being cited within the report. Several registered persons were sanctioned for failure to notify and obtain prior written approval from their member firm before engaging in an outside business activity or private securities transactions. Those who failed to cooperate with FINRA’s investigation by refusing to provide on-the-record testimony have been barred from the industry. For those who did cooperate in the FINRA investigation, all but one received fines. Fines ranged from $10,000 to $30,000. (A fine was […]
Continue readingMore TagBREAKING: NAIC Adopts a Best-Interest Standard for Annuity Sales
February 13, 2020—This afternoon, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) voted to recommend that the states amend their annuity sales regulations to require insurance agents to “act in the best interest of the consumer when making a recommendation of an annuity.” The action came in the form of an amendment to the NAIC’s 2010 Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation, which was adopted by 45 states and the District of Colombia in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new best-interest standard requires insurance agents to exercise a greater degree of care […]
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