Equity-Indexed Annuities on Roll at Banks, with SEC's Help.(Wealth Management)

Byline: Steve Garmhausen

Regulators have agreed to delay plans to treat equity-indexed annuities like securities, but many bank-affiliated brokerages are already doing so.

At First Bank in Creve Coeur, Mo., the annuities cannot be sold by licensed bankers, only by full-time financial consultants, said Bruce Stava, the director of advisory salesat First Bank Wealth Management Group. And sales at the $10.8 billion-asset bank are scrutinized much the same way securities transactions are, he said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission agreedthis month to delay for two years a rule under which certain indexed annuities would be treated as securities …