Technology is The Topic at ACLI Legal and Compliance Meeting

As I traveled back from the beautiful city of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho after the ACLI Legal and Compliance Meeting, I was struck by how the topics have changed recently. At this year’s conference, the DOL rule was certainly present as a topic, but not nearly so much in the foreground as it has been in recent years. Technology, on the other hand, was at least part of every session.

Cybersecurity not only had its own session: it also crept into almost all the others in one way or another. Innovation was equally prominent, as the need to innovate made its way into most conversations. Frustrations with the challenges of regulatory efforts to both allow and restrict innovation were also on many lips.

There were no clear solutions to the challenges posed by these issues, but it was clear that internal legal and compliance efforts, as well as regulatory resources, are being pulled and strained by both. It is an interesting and demanding time. So many more meetings and discussions are to be had as we, collectively as an industry, begin to do more than merely identify the issue, but we continue to dig in and do the work.