Earlier this month, one of the leading online publications covering financial planning, investments and life insurance/annuity issues did an exhaustive review of many of the issues facing the structured settlement profession. Written by long time industry expert Senior Editor Warren S. Hirsch, the article looks into several key issues and quotes Settlement Channel commentator and structured settlement industry expert, Mark Wahlstrom, President of Wahlstrom & Associates.
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The article, Titled "Suit puts structured settlements in spot light" initially focuses on the recent lawsuit filed against casualty giant AIG, alleging among other things that commission's were not disclosed properly and that certain members of the structured settlement profession had worked in unison with AIG to with hold information from plaintiffs about their choices in annuity companies, design of the program and compensation agreements for defense brokers.
However, the article takes a deeper dive into the issue that is starting to really raise it's head in the structured settlement profession, that being whether the Fiduciary Standard that is being increasingly forced upon other annuity product sales, such as Fixed Index Annuities, will begin to be applied to structured settlement transactions as well.
Wahlstrom commented that he feels it is inevitable that the structured settlement profession would be brought into the new world of open disclosure of commissions, business relationships and clear conflict of interest avoidance when a structured settlement is being proposed to a client. Regardless of the outcome of the litigation in the AIG class action, the momentum, in his opinion, has swung in the direction of disclosure and a fiduciary standard. This of course would upset the long standing fixed commission of 4% that is paid on all structured settlements, as well as other sales support provided by life and annuity markets to the agents working to place annuity contracts that fund structured settlements.
Clearly change is coming to structured settlements and no matter how hard the industry pushes back, a new standard is going to be imposed at some point by outside forces looking to bring the sale of structured settlements on an equal footing with the sale of other financial products. Check out the full article at the link above and share your thoughts with us here.
