American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company, et al. v. Securities and Exchange Commission

The SEC (defendant) issued Rule 151A excluding fixed-index annuities (FIAs) — which tie a minimum return to a securities index and thus expose purchasers to more investment risk than ordinary fixed annuities — from the Securities Act's exemption for state-regulated annuity contracts; insurers (plaintiffs) sought review of the rule.

Whether the SEC's interpretation that a fixed-index annuity does not constitute an annuity contract under § 3(a)(8) of the Securities Act of 1933 was reasonable.