Transparency

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is interested in reducing the complexity associated with annuity information. The SEC would like to try and develop user-friendly prospectuses that allow for greater transparency of product features and fees as well as an enhanced ability to compare like product types.

Industry analysts view retirement income security as the hot-button issue that will be on the table once the healthcare reform issue has been resolved. Several recent surveys indicate how unprepared most Americans are when it comes to retirement income: A recent BofA Merrill Lynch survey revealed that 45% of those between the ages of 55 and 75 had not calculated how long their assets would last. Another survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute indicates that 70% of people entering...

Representative Darrell Issa has asked the New York Fed and AIG to provide related to the $14 billion Goldman Sachs received from U.S. taxpayers via AIG during the financial crisis. Representative Issa the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to Issa: The payments may “amount to nothing less than a backdoor bailout of AIG’s creditors,” the California Republican said in the letters, citing an Oct. 27 Bloomberg article about the New...