WFG - World Financial Group

  • FSRA - Financial Services Regulatory of Ontario
    • 2022 2025 - Investment Executive - FSRA initiates enforcement action over MGA’s training practices. The regulator alleged a firm’s training instructs life agents to mislead consumers, which the firm refutes, By: IE Staff - [link]
    • 2023 0406 -  FSRA issues notice of proposal against World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Canada Inc. - [link]
    • 2023 0415 - Always Marco - WFG Is In Trouble  ---  [BonkNote]  ---  [VIDEO-YouTube]
    • 2023 0406 - Investment Executive - FSRA proposes new conditions on life MGA. Supervision framework “largely based on delegation to upline agents,” regulator alleged, By: Greg Meckbach - [link]
  • 2023 - Aegon - The Next Chapter: Capital Markets Day, London - 100p
    • (p27) - Transamerica - 3rd largest Life insurance distribution agency in North America via World Financial Group (WFG)
    • (p27) - Top 10 position in Life Insurance; #1 Indexed Universal Life product1
      • 1 Based on per product sales of Transamerica Life’s FFIUL product
    • (p97) - Will Fuller - President & CEO of Transamerica
      • Prior to joining Transamerica, Will served in senior leadership roles for Lincoln Financial Group and Merrill Lynch
    • (p100) - Jamie Ohl - President, Individual Solutions
      • As President, Jamie leads the team responsible for the future growth of Transamerica’s life insurance, annuity, and mutual fund solutions.
      • Jamie also leads World Financial Group (WFG), the third-largest distribution network in North America, made up of nearly 70,000 agents
  • 2007 - WFG - Business Format System, World Financial Group - 138p
  • 2010 - CCH SEC Docket - Volume 98, Issue No. 5 - November 29, 2010 - 
  • 2012 - WFG - System Manual - Six Steps to Building a WFG Business, World Financial Group - 58p
  • 2012 - WFG - Leadership Manual, World Financial Group - 28p
  • 2013 - WFG - Fast Start Workbook - 16p
  • 2018 - WFG - Compensation & Advancement Guidelines, World Financial Group - 12p
  • 2018 - Book - The Truth About World Financial Group: Unauthorized, by Steve Siebold 
  • World Financial Group, Ainsworth Mortgage
    • sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2008/comp20768.pdf
    • 2014 - CFA - Literature Review: Investment Professionals and Fiduciary Duties, CFA Institute and Research Foundation - 41p
      • For example, in 2006, the SEC filed suit against a group of broker/dealers working for World Financial Group (WFG).
      • These broker/dealers had persuaded customers to refinance their homes through a related mortgage company (Ainsworth Mortgage).
      • The broker/ dealers then recommended that the clients use the proceeds from refinancing to purchase securities—namely, variable universal life insurance (VUL) policies.
        • One example given in the complaint involved the marketing director of WFG and a branch manager at Ainsworth Mortgage, who recommended that a client refinance his home with a negative amortization loan and use the proceeds to purchase VUL securities.
        • The client was a 41-year-old truck driver who barely spoke English, had four young children, and had a combined family income of $15,000 in the year he purchased the VUL.
        • The transaction required a $9,000 upfront payment and $500 monthly premiums thereafter. The subprime mortgage used to finance this transaction had a substantial prepayment penalty and variable interest payments.
        • This type of case screams, “Unsuitability!”
      • A fiduciary standard is not necessary to curb these types of broker/dealer activities.
      • Perhaps higher penalties, faster disposition of cases, or industry recovery funds would accomplish the removal of bad actors from the industry (Di Lorenzo 2012)
  • wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Financial_Group
    • World Financial Group (WFG) is a multi-level marketing[4] financial and insurance services company based in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, which sells investment, insurance, and various other financial products through a network of distributors in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.[5][6]
    • It is wholly owned by Dutch life insurance multinational Aegon and operates primarily under the Transamerica brand in the United States.[7]