Maine Revised Statutes

1. Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

2. Licensing.  A financial institution or credit union authorized to do business in this State, financial institution holding company or the subsidiary or affiliate of any of those entities or an officer, employee, agent or representative of a financial institution, credit union, financial institution holding company or the subsidiary of any of those entities may be licensed as an insurance producer or consultant in this State or may act as an insurance producer or consultant in this State. These organizations are not required to become licensed as insurance producers or consultants with respect to: credit life and credit health insurance to the extent authorized by chapter 37 when the insured is enrolled in the policy; group health insurance to the extent authorized by chapter 35 when the insured is enrolled in the policy; and group life insurance to the extent authorized by chapter 31 when the insured is enrolled in the policy; credit property insurance; credit involuntary unemployment insurance; forced placed property insurance; a vendor's single interest policy; and any other insurance product as determined by the superintendent. In addition, a financial institution, credit union, financial institution holding company or a subsidiary or employee of any such entity may sell annuities, arrange for the sale of annuities or share commissions in connection with the sale of annuities to the extent authorized by Title 9-B, section 443, subsection 11, if the entity has been licensed pursuant to this chapter and if that activity includes the sale of variable annuity contracts, a national association of securities dealers registration form must be submitted to the superintendent as required by the provisions of section 1410, subsection 8.

3. Rulemaking.  The superintendent, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Superintendent of Consumer Credit Protection may, pursuant to this subsection, Title 9-A, section 4-407 and Title 9-B, section 448, subsection 5, undertake joint rulemaking to carry out the purpose of this section, including issues regarding signs, the physical location of sales of insurance and identification of producers affiliated with financial institutions, credit unions, financial institution holding companies or supervised lenders. In adopting rules pursuant to this section, the superintendent, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Superintendent of Consumer Credit Protection shall consider the possibility of confusion and perception of coercion among the insurance-consuming public, the need for cost-effective delivery of insurance products to insurance consumers and the importance of parity among producers affiliated with federally chartered and state-chartered financial institutions and credit unions. Any rule adopted may not interfere significantly with the ability of a producer to solicit or negotiate the sale of an insurance product, whether or not that producer is affiliated with a financial institution, credit union, financial institution holding company or supervised lender, except when no other reasonable alternative exists to protect the insurance-consuming public. Rules adopted under this section are routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A. Nothing in this section is intended to restrict or interfere with the ability of the bureau, the Bureau of Financial Institutions or the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection to adopt rules with respect to areas in which the respective agencies have independent jurisdiction.