Defined terms for the annuity market and lifetime income landscape.
An investment advice fiduciary is a person who renders investment advice for a fee or other compensation with respect to any moneys or other property of an employee benefit plan or an IRA, and who is treated as an ERISA fiduciary under Section 3(21)(A)(ii) of ERISA with respect to that advice.
The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 is the federal statute that governs the registration, conduct, and disclosure obligations of persons who provide securities advice for compensation, administered by the SEC federally and by state regulators for smaller advisers.
Liquidation of insurance companies is the state regulatory process under which the domiciliary state's insurance commissioner takes control of an insolvent carrier that cannot be rehabilitated, marshals its assets, and distributes them to claimants in a statutory order of priority.
Market conduct examination is the periodic review conducted by a state insurance department of a carrier's sales, disclosure, replacement, claims-handling, and complaint-handling practices, focused on how the carrier treats contract owners rather than on its financial condition.
Nonforfeiture regulation is the body of state insurance requirements that specify minimum guaranteed values a contract owner retains under a deferred annuity even if premium payments stop or the contract is surrendered, so the contract owner cannot lose the entirety of what has been paid in.
