Voya 2013 Annual Report Download - page 101

with respect to the suitability of annuity sales, including responsibilities for training agents. Several states have
already enacted laws based on the SAT.
In addition to the foregoing risks, the financial services industry is the focus of increased regulatory scrutiny
as various state and federal governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations conduct inquiries and
investigations into the products and practices of the financial services industries. See “Item 8. Note 17.
Commitments and Contingencies” for a description of certain regulatory inquiries affecting the Company. It is
possible that future regulatory inquiries or investigations involving the insurance industry generally, or the
Company specifically, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial
condition.
In some cases, this regulatory scrutiny has led to legislation and regulation, or proposed legislation and
regulation that could significantly affect the financial services industry, or has resulted in regulatory penalties,
settlements and litigation. New laws, regulations and other regulatory actions aimed at the business practices
under scrutiny could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
The adoption of new laws and regulations, enforcement actions, or litigation, whether or not involving us, could
influence the manner in which we distribute our products, result in negative coverage of the industry by the
media, cause significant harm to our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business, results of
operations or financial condition.
Our products are subject to extensive regulation and failure to meet any of the complex product requirements
may reduce profitability.
Our insurance, annuity, retirement and investment products are subject to a complex and extensive array of
state and federal tax, securities, insurance and employee benefit plan laws and regulations, which are
administered and enforced by a number of different governmental and self-regulatory authorities, including state
insurance regulators, state securities administrators, state banking authorities, the SEC, FINRA, the DOL, the
IRS and OCC.
For example, U.S. federal income tax law imposes requirements relating to insurance and annuity product
design, administration and investments that are conditions for beneficial tax treatment of such products under the
Internal Revenue Code. Additionally, state and federal securities and insurance laws impose requirements
relating to insurance and annuity product design, offering and distribution and administration. Failure to
administer product features in accordance with contract provisions or applicable law, or to meet any of these
complex tax, securities, or insurance requirements could subject us to administrative penalties imposed by a
particular governmental or self-regulatory authority, unanticipated costs associated with remedying such failure
or other claims, harm to our reputation, interruption of our operations or adversely impact profitability.
The Dodd-Frank Act, its implementing regulations and other financial regulatory reform initiatives could
have adverse consequences for the financial services industry, including us, and/or materially affect our
results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.
On July 21, 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law. It effects comprehensive changes to the
regulation of financial services in the United States. The Dodd-Frank Act directs existing and newly-created
government agencies and bodies to perform studies and promulgate a multitude of regulations implementing the
law, a process that is underway and is expected to continue over the next few years. While some studies have
already been completed and the rule-making process is well underway, there continues to be significant
uncertainty regarding the results of ongoing studies and the ultimate requirements of regulations that have not yet
been adopted. We cannot predict with certainty how the Dodd-Frank Act and such regulations will affect the
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