As you may have seen, NBC's Dateline program on Sunday aired a special investigative report on how annuities are marketed and sold by certain insurance agents. Although Aviva USA was not mentioned in the story, this is a subject we take very seriously.
One of Aviva USA's guiding principles is doing things the right way. We constantly strive to provide the best products and service to our customers and are committed to making our customers' best interests the top priority. The Dateline story presents a good opportunity to reinforce our commitment to our customers:
- Aviva USA has taken a leadership role by instituting one of the strongest suitability requirements in the industry. We require completed suitability forms from all our agents, in all states, for all policyholders regardless of age. In many cases, our requirements exceed those required by the state in which the policy is issued.
- Indexed annuities are a valuable and effective financial product for many consumers. Depending upon the consumer's financial situation, indexed annuities can be a perfectly sound, sensible and prudent component of a retirement planning portfolio. Aviva USA expects its agents to carefully consider each client's needs and curcumstances when making a product recommendation.
- Aviva USA's goal is for every customer to be fully informed, comfortable and secure purchasing our products. We implemented measures company-wide to ensure as best as possible that agents who sell our products are doing so ethically and with full disclosure of the product's features and terms.
We have confidence in our products and our agents. Aviva USA has already addressed many of the inappropriate practices shown in the Dateline program, releasing agent bulletins on Ghostwritten Articles (Number 0300), Advertising Guidelines (Number 0722), Use of Professional Designations (Number 0298) and Seminar Selling (Number 0304). These bulletins have also been attached to this announcement.
We will continue to make customer service and customer satisfaction our top priority. You can also be certain we remain committed to maintaining the highest compliance and suitability standards to ensure that our customers can trust that Aviva USA is a company that does business the right way.
If you have any comments or inquires please contact Sales Support at 800-255-2405 ext 330.
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