Independent producers are dropping their Series 6 license (the license needed to sell mutual funds and variable annuities) at an alarming rate because of compliance requirements, according to a recent LIMRA International study.

Almost 1/3 of producers surveyed for the report, Practice Management Support: Giving Producers What They Need , have dropped that license in the last two years. “The report underscores the problems associated with today's complex compliance requirements,” said Robert Kerzner, president and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global, in a statement. “Producers are overwhelmed by the compliance function yet all of the complexity is not giving clients a better understanding of the products they are buying and we are continuing to lose qualified producers.”

The study found that half the producers claimed that increasingly complex compliance requirements took too much time and confused customers. Half of the producers also said that their agency managers were responsible for compliance functions, which meant they had less time for other managerial responsibilities. Twelve percent said their offices outsourced compliance functions.

The study also found that producers want more support when it comes to professional development, with a third of those surveyed reporting that they want to learn how to develop and implement formal sales and marketing programs.

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