FINRA Tracks Down Shady VA

[mickeyd]

I am never a fan of annuities, but VA's are among the worst. Glad to see that MetLife is being exposed and taken to the woodshed on this.

In that period, the company misrepresented or omitted at least one material fact in 72% of the 35,500 variable annuity replacement applications that the insurer approved, according to the statement. Still, the firm's principals approved the flawed applications more than 99% of the time, Finra said. Finra also found that the customers paid a substantial amount in “fees and charges,” even though such costs were typically listed as $0.00 in quarterly account statements. MetLife was fully reserved for the matter and cooperated with the regulator, said John Calagna, a spokesman for the insurer.

MetLife to pay record Finra fine for misleading annuity customers

 

[jazz4cash]

Too bad the customers that were cheated only get 20% of the fine.

"The sum includes a $20 million fine and $5 million to be paid to customers for “negligent” misrepresentation and omissions"

I don't have a lot of confidence in FINRA as an industry regulator other than flagging a rogue broker every now and then.

Also the VA product is not necessarily the problem here as much as the sales process used to promote them.