Professor Hillman Comments on SEC Regulations for Dow Jones Newswires

Professor Robert Hillman commented for Dow Jones Newswires on a challenge to Security Exchange Commission regulations classifying indexed annuities as securities and subjecting them to federal oversight.  The regulations are being contested by insurance companies and marketing groups who sell annuities, who have argued that because indexed annuities offer a guaranteed return on principle, they are not securities but an insurance product and thus should be subject only to state regulation.

"I haven't seen the insurance industry this agitated over an SEC rule before," said Professor Hillman. "The insurance industry has been fairly successful at keeping the SEC at arm's length...and I think there's more here than the simple issue of equity indexed annuities. It's the principle behind the reach of regulation."

Hillman, professor of law and Fair Business Practices and Investor Advocacy Chair at UC Davis, is a scholar in the fields of international transactions, securities regulation, and corporate and partnership law.