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Tony Ondrusek is founder and publisher of Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.

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The SEC was set to enact Rule 151A, which would require indexed annuities to be regulated as securities, thus disallowing sales of the product to tens of thousands of life insurance agents who are not securities licensed.

But last week the SEC decided to delay implementation (through a court appeal) of the rule for two years, thus giving it time to investigate the negative consequences of Rule 151A on life insurance agents.

While I applaud this government agency for (belatedly) taking its time and researching the far-reaching effects of its actions, a business writer from the Philadelphia suburbs disagrees, stating that the SEC has “chickened out” and bowed to the insurance industry. (click here for story)

It seems that instead of lobbing accusations, the writer would applaud a federal government agency for actually taking the time to investigate the unintended consequences of its actions on an entire industry. Such research in Washington is rare, and the actions of the SEC are a breath of fresh air, even if some — such as the business writer — prefer air of the stale variety.