On December 17, 2008, the SEC approved Rule 151A granting the SEC the authority to regulate certain indexed annuity products. The rule will be effective for all applicable annuity products issued on or after January 12, 2011. At such time, all indexed annuity products within the scope of Rule 151A will have to be registered with the SEC, sold via a prospectus, and sold only by those who are registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) as broker-dealers. The SEC approved the rule in a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Troy Paredes providing a lengthy dissent that he requested be included in the Federal Register when the final rule is published. Rule 12h-7 also passed with minor modifications to address Exchange Act reporting requirements for insurers issuing indexed annuity products.

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