The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the SEC is running the sweep and Mary Ann Gadziala, associate director, commented on the investigations saying “The SEC is conducting ‘almost 90’ suitability examinations related to the investigation at broker-dealers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Texas.”
Gadziala went on to talk about the problems already cropping up “While we are still in the early stages of the examination process, we have already seen concerns with advertising and marketing materials, and have seen particular problems with the sale of variable annuities and equity indexed annuities.”
The lure of big commissions for selling annuities is unfortunately a problem when it comes to the sales practices of some agents and advisors.
