§431:10D-626 Insurance producer training. (a) An insurance producer shall not solicit the sale of an annuity product unless the insurance producer has adequate knowledge of the product to recommend the annuity and the insurance producer is in compliance with the insurer's standards for product training. An insurance producer may rely on insurer-provided product-specific training standards and materials to comply with this subsection.

(b) Any insurance producer who is authorized to sell annuity products on or before January 31, 2012, shall complete by January 31, 2012, a one-time training course on annuity products meeting the requirements of subsection (d).

(c) An insurance producer who obtains a life or variable life and variable annuity products line of authority after January 31, 2012, shall not engage in the sale of annuities until the insurance producer has completed training meeting the requirements of subsection (d).

(d) The training required by this section shall be approved by the commissioner, be conducted by an approved continuing education course provider, and meet the following requirements:

(1) The minimum length of the training shall be sufficient to qualify for at least four continuing education credits;

(2) The training shall include information on the following topics:

(A) The types and various classifications of annuities available on the market;

(B) Identification of the parties to an annuity;

(C) How fixed, variable, and indexed annuity contract provisions affect consumers;

(D) The application of income taxation to qualified and non-qualified annuities;

(E) The primary uses of annuities; and

(F) Appropriate sales practices, replacement, and disclosure requirements; and

(3) The training shall not include any marketing information for products of any particular insurer or training on sales techniques.

(e) A provider of an annuity training course intending to comply with this section shall register as an approved continuing education course provider in this State and comply with the rules and guidelines applicable to insurance producer continuing education courses as set forth in article 9A.

(f) Annuity training courses may be conducted and completed by classroom or self-study methods in accordance with article 9A.

(g) Providers of annuity training shall comply with the reporting requirements and shall issue certificates of completion in accordance with article 9A.

(h) The satisfaction of the training requirements of another state that are substantially similar to the provisions of this section shall be deemed to satisfy the training requirements of this section in this State.

(i) An insurer shall verify that an insurance producer has completed the annuity training course required by this section before allowing the producer to sell an annuity product for the insurer. An insurer may satisfy its responsibility under this subsection by obtaining certificates of completion of the training course or from a reasonably reliable commercial database vendor that has a reporting arrangement with approved continuing education course providers. [L 2011, c 108, §2; am L 2012, c 66, §14]