November 17, 2008
Fixed Index Annuities are insurance products that protect the assets from loss. There is no reason for them to be regulated as an investment, as they are savings programs, offered by Insurance companies. If the reason they need to be regulated by the SEC is because they have been used as an alternative to investments regulated by the SEC, then you have to also want to seek the same regulation for bank certificates of deposit, as well as all other vehicles that protect assets from loss. As for the number of complaints these products have generated, in comparison with SEC regulated investment products, I believe that the annuities have less complaints per 100,000 clients and per $100 million.