The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Insurance & Retirement Services (I&RS) announced today that Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life), a leading provider of retirement income and protection solutions, has become the first insurance carrier to begin using its Producer Management Portal (PMP), an online service that helps the industry manage and comply with National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) training requirements for insurance agents, also known as “producers.”
The NAIC requires that producers complete general training in each state in which the producer sells annuity products, as well as complete training on each specific carrier’s annuity products that the producer sells.
“We are pleased that Allianz Life, our first live PMP client, has successfully populated its first set of training data into PMP,” said Lana Macumber, Director of I&RS product management at DTCC. “This automated service simplifies our clients’ processes for sharing training data with their distribution networks and the regulators, enabling easy verification of training qualifications and enabling annuity contracts to be sold more quickly.”
The Producer Management Portal provides detailed information on training that has been completed by producers as well as real-time, point-of-sale training authorizations.
“PMP is the most comprehensive source available for the centralized sharing, tracking and verification of producer training completions,” said Adam Bryan, Managing Director and I&RS General Manager at DTCC. “Firms have struggled to accurately track and report training data due to the heavy use of manual processes in this area. The online service enhances efficiencies for the industry, mitigates risk and reduces costs while helping firms meet industry regulations, which can be extensive and often vary by state.”
PMP was launched in May 2013 as an extension of I&RS’ Licensing & Appointments service in direct response to requests from major U.S. insurance carriers for an automated, centralized solution to track producer training completions.
According to Macumber, several other carriers and distribution companies are poised to begin implementing the portal. To date, over ten firms, including some of the largest service providers in the industry, have signed to use the service. “Distributors are anxious to have their carriers on board,” she noted. “Automating this process lowers costs and provides greater assurance of authorized annuity sales across the U.S.”
