By Jim Poolman

This article originally was published on Think Advisor.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioner recently gathered insurance commissioners, industry leaders, regulators and consumer representatives together for the NAIC Spring 2017 National Meeting in Denver.

Among the attendees at the NAIC meetings was my group, the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council. IALC is a group for insurance providers dedicated to the mission of providing retirement savings options, such as fixed indexed annuities, and to increasing awareness of and conversations about those options.

I was excited going into this weekend, because one of the NAIC’s main goals for the meeting was to start a discussion about making revisions to the NAIC’s Suitability in Annuity Transactions model.

Annuity users, producers and carriers are all interested in strengthening protections for the consumers who are buying financial products, including annuities. The conversations about the model revisions proved to be important conversations.

Andy Beal, the chief operating officer at the NAIC, said before the meeting that keeping up with our ever-changing world can be demanding for regulators, but that the NAIC members’ dedication to consumers has resulted in over 145 years of success for the association.

At IALC, we are pleased to see state insurance regulators taking up the important matter of how to further consumer protection. We firmly believe that regulation of financial products is best when it comes from the states, and not the federal government.

We favor and support adjustments to the NAIC suitability model that provide consumer protections, but that keep and promote valuable choices for consumers who are planning for their financial future. That’s such an important balance to strike, to ensure that consumers have protections, and that consumers also have the financial choices they need to plan for a successful future.