What Ohio National’s End of Annuity Trails Means for Advisors, BDs
October 9, 2018 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor Cutting off advisors servicing variable annuity products they have sold to clients is anti-fiduciary and harmful to policyholders. After an extended period of failing to get results out of buyout offers on its variable annuities, Ohio National has decided to stop paying trailing commissions on some variable annuities. Going one step further, the firm will also stop the data feed to advisors, leaving clients to fend for themselves. We checked with several broker-dealers on the matter and heard some contradictory feedback. One mid-size broker-dealer commented that its reps would continue to receive trails and data feed, so no change; another mid-size firm, though, said it would not get trails but could continue to service the Ohio National products. Besides the inconsistencies, many broker-dealers will be out of the...