The economy is inherently cyclical. While these cycles don’t necessarily repeat themselves, they usually rhyme. Understanding the forecasting ability of stock, bond and energy markets can both illuminate opportunities and serve as valuable storm warnings for business leaders. A lot of this runs counter to what people are commonly hearing in the media. In this lively and entertaining session, Peter Ricchiuti explains how to interpret the market signals.

Innovation and insurance are not exactly synonymous. How can insurance carriers innovate from within, and take control of consumer experience? Changing culture is a battle, but it is one worth fighting and winning.

Discuss hot topics in compliance and benchmark your practices while networking with peers and industry experts in this roundtable format. Tables will be divided by topic - choose a conversation that interests you, and join in. Chimes will sound every 15 minutes, giving you an opportunity to move to another topic. 

Have a topic to request? Email cclement@limra.com or tweet it using the hashtag #RCEX.

Topics will include:

• AML
• Cybersecurity
• Fiduciary Rule
• Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons
• FINRA Issues
• Fraud
• NY Regulatory Environment
• Regulatory Exams
• Social Media
• Suitability
• Supervision

·       Tech & Data in Compliance

The panel of regulators will answer questions about the current regulatory environment. Please pre-submit your questions for a wide-ranging discussion of issues by emailing LIMRA’s Larry Niland at lniland@limra.com

Regulators will be announced here prior to the conference.

Do your business partners view compliance as a valued business partner?   Are you used as a positive recruitment tool for new distribution partners?  Is it possible that the next generation of compliance really is collaborative, innovative, and naturally creative?   

Join us and learn:   

•  Techniques, tactics and programs for collaboration  
•  Tips for being a proactive, visible and accessible business partner
•  How to ensure compliance has a seat at the table
•  How to be known as the "value added" compliance partner

Effective surveillance is a key part of Distribution Compliance. This session will allow attendees to “peek behind the curtain” to look at best practices used for producer surveillance. The speakers will provide their insight on new business, senior sales, replacements, documentation and escalation, to name a few.  

Building on the FINRA KYC rule, the Beneficial Ownership / Customer Due Diligence rule goes live in May 2018.  Life insurers with affiliated broker-dealers and mutual fund companies as well as those who market variable life and annuity products have much work to do to comply with this key rule.  Learn how you can best comply with this rule from a panel of industry experts.

Join us for a discussion on the evolving role of the independent distribution intermediaries, lessons from the fiduciary rule, and what lies ahead for independent distribution and their industry partners.

Join us to discover the evolution from compliance-based supervision to risk-based supervision.  Unlocking data within common fact patterns will reveal your next compliance problem.  In this workshop, we'll explore:

Recognizing financial exploitation of seniors and other vulnerable people has become more important than ever before, as losses of $3 billion annually demonstrate. Over the last two years, financial services firms have made substantial investments to ensure their advisors are prepared for the new era in which they are expected to always put their clients' best interests first. They must conform to high standards of both ethical and prudent behavior, though some of their clients, due to age and circumstance, could put their firms - even the adviser themselves - at significant risk.

In this session, you'll learn about this growing issue and common types of exploitation, discuss the evolving regulatory environment, and hear about steps being taken by firms to successfully protect vulnerable clients.

The ease of doing business electronically has shifted the way agents desire to do business.  Face to face sales may no longer be the norm as agents push to expand their geographical reach and broaden their client base.  This session will identify and examine:

• How agents are using Skype or the telephone to solicit insurance
• The potential risks associated with non-face to face sales
• Solutions companies can take to mitigate risk

Effective compliance risk management underscores an organization’s commitment to integrity, business practices and business conduct for the benefit of customers, employees, the insurance company and the public. Compliance Risk Assessments are a tool to protect organizations from financial, legal, regulatory and reputational harm.

• Learn reasons why insurance companies conduct compliance risk assessments
• Understand the Three Lines of Defense framework to define compliance and risk management roles and responsibilities
• Apply the risk assessment methodologies to your compliance risk
• Key control identification and compliance testing to validate control effectiveness

Using everyday language helps your customer understand your message better and feel more confident in taking the next step. Being purposeful with your disclosure – how much you say, how you say it, and where it appears – is a critical component in this effort. This panel will discuss the regulatory and oftentimes self-imposed challenges of revising your company’s marketing materials to (as stated by surveyed consumers) “keep language simple and succinct,” “make it easier to understand” and “make sure we know what we’re buying” – all in an effort to better connect with your customer.

 Monitoring leveraging data analytics is useful in detecting or predicting potential threats to an organization such as sales practice misconduct, fraud and abuse.   These techniques may be also applied proactively in the sales review process to provide the analytical foresight into existing and emerging issues.  In this session, Lalchand will provide an overview of analytics and insight on why and how a compliance professional may effectively use data analytics in the sales practices monitoring and review processes.

 Their OBA becomes your Firm’s OBA!

•    What risks are associated with OBAs?  
•    What are the key requirements to supervising them?
•    How do you review and approve them? 

Come hear from a diverse panel as they discuss effective practices for designing and implementing supervisory systems and controls to mitigate the risks associated with OBAs including a discussion on common OBA requests made by the field. 

Keeping up with the innovation initiatives in your company presents opportunities and challenges.  Now you are being asked to innovate within your department at the same time. Hear from top Innovation Officers how you too can be supportive and be an innovative thought-leader within your organization.

• Innovations is at the heart of a customer centric organization
• Innovation and Compliance – How they complement one another
• What does your innovation tool box look like?

With cybercrime, fraud, and money laundering on the rise, regulators are expecting insurers to increase effectiveness in detecting and deterring these illegal activities.  In this session, you'll see  how companies are operationalizing fraud, cyber, and AML programs, and are using data, processes, and tools to protect their companies, clients, and the U.S. financial system from ever-evolving criminals. Compliance officers from two disparate companies and an AML auditor will talk about programs that work, strategies for cross-silo cooperation, and ways to achieve more without necessarily increasing budget.

Many companies in our industry have insurance think labs, designed to come up with creative ways to improve how we design, develop, market and sell insurance. What are we doing to create innovative opportunities in our compliance departments to solve problems and reduce risk? 

Participants in this hands-on working lab session will first learn some simple innovation frameworks to take back to their teams, and then will put those tools to work immediately. Working collaboratively in small groups, attendees will choose a common compliance problem and create innovative solutions that just might make a breakthrough difference.

This is your chance to get all of your questions answered, in an “unconferenced,” interactive, peer-to-peer conversational session. Hosted by members of the LIMRA LOMA Regulatory Compliance Committee, you’ll have opportunities to submit your questions, both before and during the session, and draw upon the power of the crowd to get answers.

Any questions left unanswered after this session will be sent out in a post-conference survey, with results shared with participants, so there will truly be no questions left unanswered

Join this lively discussion intended specifically for those in small life insurance companies, broker-dealers, and subsidiaries of larger companies. In this session, participants will discuss how to meet the demands posed by increasing compliance responsibilities - even as resources shrink.  Attendees will have the opportunity to see how their practices compare to peers' using the anonymous polling capabilities of the conference app. Those who register for this session will be contacted in advance of the conference to submit topics for discussion.

Insurers doing business in New York are seeing an increase in regulatory initiatives from the New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS). These initiatives are unique to New York and cover a range of topics including standard of care, cybersecurity, non-guaranteed elements, fee-based annuity products, and use of big data in life underwriting. A panel of experts will provide their perspective, tips for addressing their developments and best practices in partnering with the NY DFS to successfully implement these and other new regulatory challenges inside your company.

Regulatory expectations in the cybersecurity world have grown significantly with the NYDFS Cyber Rule and the NAIC Model Cyber Act.  The role of compliance will be critical in ensuring that life insurers comply with the many regulatory requirements.  Learn from a panel of experts and through case studies about the new regulatory requirements, including their impact on life insurance agents, and how the go about making sure that their firms are in compliance.

An ethical culture is one where people do the right thing, not only what’s legal and required. It’s often easier to focus on compliance than ethics. But ethics is what builds a company’s reputation and helps it succeed in the long run. In this session, we’ll explore what it means to have an ethical culture, why it matters, and what it takes to have one at your company.