Insurance agents who want to sell annuities on or after January 1, 2022, must take “Annuity Best Interest” certification courses offered by approved providers. The courses will include “best-interest” training, which outlines the requirement that agents act in the best interest of the consumer at the time the annuity recommendation is made. To learn more, view the Commissioner’s Bulletin B-0021-21.
How to find courses:
- Go to Sircon and select “Approved Courses Inquiry.”
- Select “Texas.”
- Click “Submit.”
- For “Education Type,” make sure “Continuing Education” is selected.
- Under “Course Category,” check one or both:
- “Annuity Best Interest 1” for a list of one-credit courses.
- “Annuity Best Interest 4” for a list of four-credit courses.
- Click “Submit.” (There might be a short delay before the next screen appears.)
- You will see a list of all approved annuity best-interest certification courses. The information will include the provider, instruction method, and length of course.
Continuing education (CE):
- Requirements: Annuity CE requirements have not changed. Agents are required to complete eight hours of annuity-specific CE each term after certification. Visit the Sircon website to check your transcript and view available courses.
- Course providers: Continuing education providers may submit courses for approval through Sircon.
Resident agent who has completed a training course before January 1, 2022
You must complete either an “Annuity Best Interest 1” course or an “Annuity Best Interest 4” course.
Resident agent who has not yet completed any training courses
You must complete an “Annuity Best Interest 4” course.
Non-resident agent
You must do one of the following:
- Complete an “Annuity Best Interest 4” course.
- Complete an “Annuity Best Interest 1” course if you complete a “Cert-Annuity” course (see the Sircon course category listing – step 5 above) before January 1, 2022.
- Take a course approved by a state that complies with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annuity “best-interest” training requirements. (You are responsible for providing proof of required annuity training if requested. TDI does not post continuing education completion information for agents who take courses from other state insurance departments.)
List of agents
List of agents as of 1/1/2023: Annuity certification agents (Excel)
This list:
- is updated quarterly.
- includes only agents who have completed the certification course.