Law targets insurance agents barred by other regulators

Florida insurance brokers who get into trouble with regulators may have their licenses revoked next year when a new law takes effect. Under Safeguard our Seniors, which was signed into law in Florida last spring, starting Jan. 1, the Florida Department of Financial Services will be able to revoke the licenses of any insurance brokers barred by other regulatory agencies, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. The new law will apply only to brokers who get in trouble with regulators after Jan. 1 and leaves it up to the department to decide whether to revoke a broker's license, said Charlie Fitzgerald, director of government relations for the Florida chapter of the Financial Planning Association, which lobbied for this aspect of the legislation. “We would like to think that the insurance companies would be scrutinizing its agents, but that doesn't seem to always happen,” he said. “We aren't talking about thousands of agents, just a very small minority.” In fact, the Florida chapter of the FPA did some research as part of its lobbying effort for this aspect of the legislation and found that from September 2007 through April 2010, there were 74 insurance brokers who were banned by Finra. Thirty-four of them still had their insurance licenses. “These are brokers who were banned by Finra for committing fraud but still had their licenses,” said Mr. Fitzgerald, who is a principal with Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC, which has $180 million in assets under management. “We hope this legislation will prevent these people from selling insurance.”