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With the New Year coming soon,
you may have new training requirements to keep your insurance license
current. As an agent, you may be required by the insurance company to
complete a refresher training course on Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
So what’s the big deal about AML? Why is the AML training course required?
What is the benefit for you completing this training course? Where can you
complete the required training course?
Learn why AML is a training prerequisite required by most companies to
obtain a writing contract.
The USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, which was
signed into law on March 9, 2006, requires awareness by financial
professionals and fiduciaries regarding Anti-Money Laundering activity. It
is administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Insurance companies rely on you, the agent,
to be the first review in detecting and preventing money laundering
because you gain personal knowledge of your clients regarding their
financial situation, objectives and needs.
In order to help prevent money laundering, you must be able to recognize
the warning signs of money laundering activities and understand your
responsibilities for reporting suspicious activities. This knowledge will
help to ensure that you do not become involved in investigations that
could harm your own reputation or the carrier’s reputation and damage
relationships with your clients.
Did you know that not all products require AML training! The following
products do not require AML training:
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Group insurance products
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Term life, property,
casualty, health, or title insurance
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Reinsurance and retrocession
contracts
AML training is required for
products that have a cash value. If you are soliciting the following
products, you are required to have current AML training:
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Permanent life insurance,
other than group life insurance
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Annuities, other than group
annuities
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Any other insurance product
with cash value or investment features
AML training is easy and can
benefit you! With this required training, YOU could be responsible for
preventing illegal actions of a client. You would build confidence and
creditability with clients who know that you have professional integrity
because of your due diligence. Not only will you have the knowledge and
confidence to prevent money laundering, AML training is mandatory if you
solicit cash value policies.
The annual refresher courses can take as little as 30 minutes to complete.
If you solicit any cash value product, the insurance company may also
require that you complete their component of the AML training. Most
companies only require that you select their company name, and they will
be notified electronically upon completion.
When you complete your AML training through LIMRA, no further action will
be required by you, as the completion notification is automatically
submitted to the insurance company. If you complete your AML training
through another source, the company may require that you provide a
certificate of completion.
If you need to complete your AML training, visit the Financial Markets,
Inc. website at
www.fm-inc.com and click on Tool
Kit. This will take you to the LIMRA training, which is
industry-wide accepted AML training. The training is easy to complete and
required by many companies, so don’t forget to complete the refresher
course that will become available in the beginning 2010!
Written by: AppMan© |
