DTCC recently announced a partnership with Ebix, a leading international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services for the insurance industry, to provide DTCC clients with an automated annuity compliance solution. Through this partnership, Ebix’s platform, AnnuityNet, now integrates with DTCC’s Producer Management Portal (PMP) to streamline the automated confirmation of the training certification process in real-time. Carriers and distributors can use this new solution to eliminate rejected applications, reduce costs, lower the risks associated with certifying producer compliance for annuity sales and ultimately, increase their efficiency.
We sat down with DTCC’s Jamie Taylor, Director of Senior Product Management, I&RS, and Jeanann Smith, Director of Senior Product Management, I&RS, to better understand the new DTCC/Ebix partnership and the annuity compliance challenges the industry faces.
Q: What are some of the annuity compliance challenges?
JT: For the insurance industry, particularly annuity application submissions, the most frequent reasons why “Not in Good Order” (NIGO) compliance violations come up are training certification validation and manual paper-intensive record-keeping. Many broker/dealers rely on the manual process of reviewing spreadsheets or paper documentation to determine whether agents have the proper training, appointments and licenses. This manual method is simply not efficient or standardized, and it actually introduces risk into the process.
Q: How will this solution address those challenges?
JS: This collaboration with Ebix addresses the challenges associated with identifying a point in time when a producer has successfully satisfied their training requirements, for both product and state, to be considered “trained” to move forward with the application submission. Accessing DTCC’s Producer Management Portal (PMP) data, which is available in a centralized platform, offers the carriers and distributors the ability to check producer level training completions in one location.
Q: How will this solution work?
JS: For this solution, Ebix enables a producer’s annuity training to be validated at the point-of-sale within the AnnuityNet order entry system. The interface allows Ebix the ability to query DTCC’s PMP to securely receive a real-time training verification regarding his/her/their status to legally make a sale based on the criteria described. This criteria involves different factors within the environment: application state of sale, the writing producer and product being sold with a specific carrier.
Q: What benefit will this bring to the industry and clients?
JT: We are excited because this partnership with Ebix solves many challenges surrounding annuity compliance, mainly NIGO annuity applications. Carriers and distributors using this solution can now automate the process of making sure that their annuity producers are properly trained to sell, creating operational efficiency and reducing risk. In addition, this solution provides a better user experience for the producer and client by further reducing the frustration of dealing with NIGO applications.
JS: This PMP solution has real-time data in standardized formats on a single platform – which is critical for continuity of sharing, tracking, and verifying annuity training completions between carriers and distributors. We look forward to bringing more benefits to the industry by potentially incorporating securities registration, insurance licensing and appointment data into the IIEX solution in the future, to assist in managing the producer’s selling credentials.