Arizona Laws 20-1243.07. Producer training; annuities; continuing education
A. A producer may not solicit the sale of an annuity product unless the producer has adequate knowledge of the product to recommend the annuity and the producer is in compliance with the insurer’s standards for product training. A producer may rely on insurer-provided product-specific training standards and materials to comply with this subsection.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 20-1243.07
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Annuity: means an annuity that is individually solicited, whether the product is classified as an individual or group annuity. See Arizona Laws 20-1243
- Continuing education credit: means one continuing education credit hour as defined in section 20-2901. See Arizona Laws 20-1243
- Continuing education provider: means an individual or entity that is approved to offer continuing education courses pursuant to chapter 18 of this title. See Arizona Laws 20-1243
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- department: means the department of insurance and financial institutions. See Arizona Laws 20-101
- Replacement: means a transaction in which a new annuity is to be purchased and it is known or should be known to the proposing producer or to the proposing insurer, whether or not a producer is involved, that by reason of the transaction, an existing annuity or other insurance policy has been or is to be any of the following:
(a) Lapsed, forfeited, surrendered or partially surrendered, assigned to the replacing insurer or otherwise terminated. See Arizona Laws 20-1243
B. Before selling, soliciting or negotiating an annuity, a producer with a life insurance line of authority shall complete a onetime four credit-hour training course approved pursuant to section 20-2904 that is provided by an education provider approved pursuant to section 20-2904.
C. The minimum length of the training required under subsection B of this section shall be sufficient to qualify for at least four continuing education credit hours, but may be longer. The training required under subsection B of this section shall include information on the following topics:
1. Types of annuities and various classifications of annuities.
2. Identification of the parties to an annuity.
3. How product-specific annuity contract features affect consumers.
4. The application of income taxation of qualified and nonqualified annuities.
5. The primary uses of annuities.
6. Appropriate standard of conduct, sales practices, replacement requirements and disclosure requirements.
D. A provider of an annuity training course intended to comply with this section shall cover all topics listed in subsection C of this section and may not present any marketing information, provide training on sales techniques or provide specific information about a particular insurer’s products. Additional topics may be offered in conjunction with and in addition to the topics listed in subsection C of this section. A provider of an annuity training course intended to comply with this section shall register as a continuing education provider in this state and shall comply with the rules and guidelines applicable to producer continuing education courses required by chapter 18 of this title. A provider of an annuity training course shall comply with the reporting requirements and shall issue a certificate of completion in accordance with chapter 18 of this title.
E. Annuity training courses may be conducted and completed by classroom or self-study methods in accordance with chapter 18 of this title and any rules of the department. Satisfactory completion of the training requirements of another state that are substantially similar to the provisions of this section satisfy the training requirements of this section. Satisfactory completion of the components of the training requirements of any course or courses with components that are substantially similar to the requirements prescribed in this section satisfy the training requirements of this section.
F. An insurer shall verify that a producer has completed the annuity training course required under this section before allowing the producer to sell an annuity product for that insurer. An insurer may satisfy its responsibility under this subsection by obtaining certificates of completion of the annuity training course or obtaining reports provided by department-sponsored database systems or vendors or from a reasonably reliable commercial database vendor that has a reporting arrangement with approved insurance education providers.