The licensing and appointing process for insurance agents is a complex system in which each state has its own specific rules and regulations for producers who sell insurance and securities products within their state. Because of the disparities between state regulatory requirements, many of these rules and regulations are subject to different interpretation by the insurance and securities companies. This environment is ripe for confusion, inefficiency and even fraud.

Automating insurance compliance can bring the same kinds of benefits to insurance carriers and agents that the current presidential administration hopes to bring to the healthcare industry. These benefits include increasing accountability, reducing possible fraud, cutting costs and improving overall communications.

Insurance companies can utilize compliance automation applications to manage their producer/agent life cycles more cost-effectively while satisfying the stringent reporting and filing requirements of state and federal regulators. Applications that are already automated include new hire onboarding; license and registration processing; electronic data exchange among producers, carriers, distributors, broker-dealers and regulatory entities; compliance maintenance and supervision; and continuing education tracking.

These solutions will likely meet government transparency and reporting requirements and will also have the added benefit of contributing to a more environmentally friendly, paperless office.