Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. has launched a new wholly owned unit, Ladenburg Thalmann Annuity Services (LTAIS), to provide marketing strategies, product expertise, and back-office processing for sellers of fixed and equity-indexed annuities.
LTAIS is a “full-service annuity processing and marketing platform offering advisors propriety and industry-leading technologies, contracting and licensing, and in-house annuity experts,” according to a release.
The offering is in part a response to the Obama DOL fiduciary rule, which requires advisors to pledge to work solely in the client’s best interest if they want to accept a commission on sales of indexed or variable annuities to IRA rollover clients. Many advisors and agents are giving up commissioned sales rather than sign the Best Interest Contract.
“In an age when the requirements for offering products and services to clients is under intensive regulatory scrutiny, it is critical that our advisors be confident in the way those products and services are delivered.” said Richard Lampen, CEO, President and Director, Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, in the release.
“Given the volume of annuity business generated from Ladenburg Thalmann-affiliated companies, we felt compelled to create a solution that will better enable integration of annuities into the planning process and allow access to leading carriers and products,” added Jim Gelder, CEO, LTAIS.
The launch of LTAIS expands Ladenburg Thalmann’s retirement product offerings to a network of firms with over 4,000 financial advisors nationwide. Ladenburg Thalmann is a publicly traded financial services company based in Miami, Florida.
Its subsidiaries include the broker-dealer firms Securities America, Inc., Triad Advisors, Inc., Securities Service Network, Inc., Investacorp, Inc. and KMS Financial Services, Inc., as well as Premier Trust, Inc., Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management Inc., Highland Capital Brokerage, Inc., and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., an investment bank.
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