The Iowa Insurance Division has reached an agreement with insurers designed to strengthen disclosure to consumers before they buy fixed annuities, Insurance Commissioner Susan Voss announced Monday.

Through an initiative of the division and the American Council of Life Insurers, 16 insurance companies, among them Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group Inc. and West Des Moines-based Homesteaders Life Co., have agreed to adopt a standard format for annuity disclosure. The one-year pilot program, which began Jan. 31, encompasses both indexed fixed annuities and non-indexed fixed annuities, but not products registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission such as variable annuities.

“I think one reason the industry has been so willing to jump on board is that there’s been a lot of scrutiny of sales of annuities and some of the practices, and there has been legal action from the attorney general in Connecticut and the attorney general in Minnesota,” Voss said. “So I think the industry has seen the light and realized that if they do better disclosure up front, that’s better for the consumer and that’s going to stop some of the litigation. So they’ve come to the table very willingly on this.”

Using the form is not mandatory, however, Voss said. “We’re just saying, if they use it, it will comply with our disclosure requirements. We have a suitability law here in Iowa where every insurer has to provide certain disclosures that the annuity being sold is suitable. … We’re hoping the more that use it and realize it makes sense, that we can get everybody to use it.” During the year, information will also be sought from consumers about the effectiveness of the forms.

The companies that have agreed to participate in addition to Principal and Homesteaders are: Transamerica Life Insurance Co., Life Investors Insurance Co. of America, Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co., AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co., Genworth Financial, Hartford Life Insurance Co., ING Life Insurance & Annuity Co., Lincoln Financial Group, MetLife, Western & Southern Life Insurance Co., AAA Life Insurance Co., CUNA Mutual Group, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, and John Hancock.