Last Updated: January 19, 2024
Jump to Section: Resident | Nonresident | Annuity Best Interest Training | Long-Term Care Training | Life Settlement Training | National Flood Insurance Training | Continuing Education Waiver
Resident Intermediary Individual (Agent)
Attention Resident Agents:
Agents are encouraged to complete CE courses online to avoid delays in renewing their insurance licenses. The following link contains information regarding online CE options:
sbs.naic.org/solar-external-lookup
How many CE credits are required?
Each resident intermediary licensed in any of the
major lines or grandfathered limited line of authority shall biennially complete 24 credit hours of continuing education approved by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI), a minimum of 3 of the 24 credit hours must cover ethics in insurance.
A resident intermediary holding only a
limited line license does not need to complete continuing education requirements.
Which courses count towards CE requirements?
Intermediaries may fulfill the continuing education requirements by earning the required credit hours from courses taught in any or all of the
major lines. A list of continuing education courses is available at
State Based Systems (SBS) . The same course may not be taken more than once during the biennial license period.
When do CE credits need to be taken?
Credits must be earned and banked (submitted) within a minimum of 24 months of the license renewal period for each agent. Education providers have 10 days to bank credits after a course is completed. If the required credit hours are not banked by the education provider before the license expiration date, the license of the intermediary will expire and all appointments will be terminated.
Agents should not wait until the last several days of their renewal period to complete their CE. It is possible that the CE could be completed and banked (submitted) by the provider to State Based Systems on the last day of renewal period; however, this does not guarantee the renewal will be open for agent to pay the renewal via NIPR.
OCI highly recommends completing CE requirements at least 30 days prior to the license renewal date. Excess credit hours accumulated during any reporting period cannot be carried forward to the next reporting period.
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Nonresident Intermediary (Agent)
A nonresident agent's satisfaction of his or her home state's continuing education requirement for a licensed intermediary will constitute satisfaction of Wisconsin's continuing education requirements. Nonresident agents are not required to supply OCI with evidence of completing continuing education in their home state.
Nonresident agents must, however, comply with the mandatory training requirements below, if applicable.
Nonresidents may check compliance with their mandatory training requirements by looking up their
CE transcript via SBS at
statebasedsystems.com .
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Mandatory Training Requirements—Annuity Best Interest
Effective, October 1, 2022, the Wisconsin Best Interest Law (2021 Wis. Act 260) requires an insurance intermediary to complete an updated training that includes the best interest standard. The new law requires that when recommending the sale of an annuity, insurance intermediaries act in the best interest of the consumer and not place their own financial interests ahead of those of a consumer.
Intermediaries that completed an approved annuity suitability training course prior to October 1, 2022, must complete either a one-time, 4-hour annuity training best interest course or a one-time, 1-hour refresher annuity training best interest course within six months of the effective date of the Act. The course must be approved under the course group of Annuity Training—Best Interest. The deadline for intermediaries to complete this training is April 1, 2023.
NEW! This CE can be completed prior to October 1, 2022, and courses are currently available under the Annuity Training—Best Interest course group via the Provider/Course Lookup link.
Individuals newly licensed with the life authority after October 1, 2022, must complete a 4-hour annuity training best interest course and the insurer-specific annuity product training before soliciting the sale of any annuity product. The training is required for both resident and nonresident intermediaries and it applies to both individual and group annuity sales.
An intermediary who satisfies the training requirement of another state that is substantially similar to Wisconsin's law will be deemed compliant with Wisconsin's requirement. The course must include, but need not be limited to:
The types of annuities and various classifications of annuities.
Identification of the parties to an annuity.
How product-specific annuity contract features affect consumers.
The application of income taxation of qualified and non-qualified annuities.
The primary uses of annuities.
Appropriate sales practices and replacement and disclosure requirements.
Insurer Responsibility
Each insurer must verify that the intermediary has completed the required training. Insurers are also required to establish standards for intermediary product training and to provide product-specific training and training material that explains the company's annuity product to its intermediaries prior to soliciting the company's product.
Individuals who engage in the sale of annuities are required to provide the following disclosure forms to consumers:
For more information, please refer to
s. 628.347 (4m), Wis. Stat.
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Mandatory Training Requirements—Long-Term Care
An insurance intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates long-term care insurance products must be licensed and appointed by an insurer and must complete the initial and ongoing long-term care training.
Initial training shall be no less than 8 hours, of which 2 hours must contain Wisconsin-specific Medicaid and long-term care information.
After completion of the initial training, all intermediaries must complete one 4-hour training course specific to long-term care insurance every 24 months concurrent with each individual's license renewal period, of which 1 hour must contain Wisconsin-specific Medicaid training.
The training must include but is not limited to long-term care state and federal regulation, available long-term care services and providers, alternatives to the purchase of private long-term care insurance, effects of inflation, insurance suitability standards and guidelines.
A nonresident intermediary who has satisfied the training requirement in another state will be deemed to satisfy the training requirement in Wisconsin,
except for the
initial 2 hours of Wisconsin-specific Medicaid and long-term care information training. In addition, nonresident intermediaries must complete one credit hour of Wisconsin-specific Medicaid training every 24 months concurrent with each individual's license renewal period.
Insurer Responsibility
Each insurer is responsible for ensuring that intermediaries marketing their long-term care products have completed the required training and to track and maintain records regarding this training. Intermediaries should contact the insurers with which they are appointed to sell long-term care for additional information on training and the manner in which they must document and report to insurers.
For more information, please refer to
s. Ins 3.46 (26), Wis. Adm. Code ,
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Mandatory Training Requirements—Life Settlement
An individual life settlement broker shall complete an initial training course of 8 hours. In addition, the broker must complete 4 hours of training every 24 months after the initial training course. The recurring training required must be completed and reported at a rate no less than 2 hours each 12 months of each compliance period.
Satisfaction of the training requirement of another state that is substantially similar to the requirements in Wisconsin will satisfy the training requirement. The life settlement training shall include all of the following, but not limited to, legal structuring of life settlement, legal relationship among parties to a life settlement, required disclosure and privacy, ethical consideration in selling, soliciting and negotiating life settlement, contract requirement, advertising and remedies.
For more information, please refer to
s. 632.69 (3), Wis. Stat ., and
s. Ins 2.18 (4), Wis. Adm. Code .
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Mandatory Training Requirements—National Flood Insurance
As established by the U.S. Congress, the sale of flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is subject to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rules and regulations. Section 207 of the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 (Act) requires all intermediaries selling flood insurance policies to be properly licensed and trained. The Act directs the Director of FEMA, in cooperation with the insurance industry, state insurance regulators, and other interested parties to establish minimum training and education requirements for all insurance intermediaries who sell flood insurance policies.
An insurance intermediary who sells flood insurance may satisfy the minimum training and education requirements by completing a course related to flood insurance and the NFIP. The course shall be for 3 hours and shall be approved for continuing education credit. Failure to comply with the training requirement may jeopardize the producer's authority to write insurance through the NFIP.
All Wisconsin-licensed resident insurance intermediaries who sell federal flood insurance policies must comply with the minimum training requirements of Section 207 of the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 and basic flood education as outlined at 70 Fed. Reg., 52117 or such later requirements as published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA/NFIP training can be found at
NFIP Training . An intermediary should check to make sure the webinars/seminars he or she is taking do count for continuing education credit. Intermediaries can sign-up to receive webinar and classroom training invitations by visiting fema.gov/agent-training and clicking on "NFIP Training Updates ".
For more information, go to the FEMA website at
fema.gov .
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CE Waiver
Continuing Education Waivers may be granted to those individuals who have extreme circumstances such as medical incapacity, military duty, or another emergency situation.
All continuing education waiver request must be submitted and approved 90 days prior to the license expiration date. The exemption form can be submitted to OCI via paper or electronic form:
Paper - Continuing Education Waiver Request
Print and fill out the Continuing Education Waiver Form
CE Waiver and include the required supporting documentation. The form along with supporting documentation can be sent to OCI to the email, mailing address, or fax number that are listed on the form.
Electronic - Continuing Education Waiver Request
Once the form has been submitted, OCI will provide written notice of approval or denial within 30 days of receipt of the exemption request.
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