STATEMENT BY WAYNE CHOPUS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INSURED RETIREMENT INSTITUTE ON THE PROTECTING INNOVATION IN INVESTMENT ACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) opposes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ‘Conflicts of Interest Associated with Predictive Data Analytics by Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers’ rule. This proposed rule is overbroad, overreaching, and rife with flaws. IRI supports the Protecting Innovation in Investment Act, proposed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), to prohibit the SEC from finalizing and implementing this damaging proposal.

The proposal’s broad definition of covered technology serves not to effectively establish guardrails for the future as intended but to paralyze and cast a shadow on the present. The SEC has offered no evidence to support this drastic overhaul of decades of effective regulation, which will deprive investors of access to essential and valuable resources without improving investor protection in any meaningful way.

IRI is grateful to Senator Cruz and Senator Hagerty for their leadership in pursuing this legislation. We look forward to working with them on this important effort.

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Contact: Dan Zielinski

The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) is the leading association for the entire supply chain of insured retirement strategies, including life insurers, asset managers, broker-dealers, banks, marketing organizations, law firms, and solution providers. IRI members account for 90 percent of annuity assets in the U.S., include the foremost distributors of protected lifetime income solutions, and are represented by financial professionals serving millions of Americans. IRI champions retirement security for all through leadership in advocacy, awareness, research, and the advancement of digital solutions within a collaborative industry community. Learn more at www.irionline.org.