8 Takeaways from SILA 2025 in New Orleans

Banding Together: SILA, the compliance love fest

New Orleans—The Securities and Insurance Licensing Association gathered members and vendors Oct. 26 through Oct. 29 in New Orleans for the annual conference, this year with a theme of “Banding Together for Success.” 

It may seem odd to some that representatives from carriers, agencies, insurtechs, compliance vendors, exam software providers, and state departments of insurance administrators would make it a priority to get facetime. But it’s a statement of how difficult licensing and appointment compliance is for everyone that this is an area of mutual agreement and collaboration.

The conference didn’t disappoint, with sessions focused on how to solve the industry’s complex compliance difficulties (looking at you, adjuster licensing) and compliance-oriented folks cutting loose in one of the country’s best party cities.

If you were there, hit us up on LinkedIn to share memories, pictures, and your takeaways. But if you missed it, start planning for Chicago next year, grab your beignets, and check out our recap:

No. 1: Navigating change is neverending and difficult

From the keynote speaker to regulatory roundtables, change may be a constant, but it’s also a constant pain in the keister.

Industry and carrier stakeholders alike expressed dismay that it seems as though each time a state moves toward standardization, another one moves away. Each legislative session brings a new standard to implement or a new process change. And the states that don’t make changes soon find themselves on an island, stuck in a waybackmachine of outdated insurance regulation.

What’s an agency or carrier admin to do? According to the event keynote, “PUNCH IT, MARGARET!”—Essentially, embrace that change is coming, make an informed choice, and charge ahead.

On theme:

• Keynote Speaker Anne Boney—Punch it Margaret: Dancing through Discomfort, Change, and the Messy Middle
• Keeping in Cadence with Regulators to Avoid Market Conduct Licensing Compliance Imbalance

No. 2: The agency-to-carrier relationship is still a black box

This year, attendees led with curiosity, with agencies asking questions of carriers and the key carrier+agency open forum sticking to a “show of hands” setup. While it was perhaps less spicy than years past, it was revealing. Insurance businesses across the distribution pipeline struggle with the exchange of data and establishing best practices for how long to keep producers on the books.

On theme:

• Marching in Step: Aligning Licensing Practices Between Carriers and Agencies Open Forum

No. 3: Securities regulation is making a state-level comeback

SILA board members have put an effort into drawing in the businesses, regulators, and admins who work on the securities side of the house, and it shows. This year saw a more than 30% increase of securities regulators at the conference, and there were noticeably more securities sessions.

As a nationwide defederalization grips multiple governing bodies, state regulators find themselves stepping into the void to provide guidance and enforcement (and possibly some standardization!) to securities businesses.

On theme:

• FINRA Panel Session 1—Innovations and Key Initiatives on the Horizon at FINRA
• NASAA: State Securities Regulatory Update
• Securities Hot Topics

No. 4: Remote vs. in person foibles aren’t resolved

How do you comply with state regulations when your producers or key employees are in other states? Who can take remote exams? How do you stop cheating? 

The pandemic pushed people out of the office, and post-pandemic some businesses have pushed to fill up real estate again. But other businesses (including those in insurance and securities) have doubled down on the low-overhead model of remote work. But how you account for your people still varies widely by state, as some states have gone nearly completely virtual for things like education and exams, and others (cough cough, Louisiana, cough cough) have returned to in-person only.

On theme:

• Securities Hot Topics
• Technology, Shenanigans & All that Jazz: Academic Integrity in Producer Education

No. 5: C-suite titles have limited visibility into compliance

One recurring theme on the floor of the event was that compliance teams are unseen heroes in their organizations. The magic of the annual SILA conference was underscored by one sticky-note sentiment left at the conference doors: “I love SILA because it’s the only place where I don’t have to explain what I do.”

There weren’t any sessions geared toward this, but many conversations iterated: Compliance is often seen as a necessary cost center, with many executives taking a dim view of its potential. Yet, not only are these teams working hard for their carriers or agencies, they are also the ones who flag risks early, who limit business waste, and who deserve the power of robust reporting to validate their business use cases!

No. 6: There’s so much opportunity for digital and technological disruption

Just about every session that featured big opinions and hot takes also revealed areas where regulatory standardization and uniformity falls short. But even in those cases where states have a uniform standard, carriers and agencies struggling to pass data back and forth or sharing a streamlined workflow could still benefit from upgrading to digital processes at minimum, or even complete technological transformation.

From carrier admins talking about the struggle to retain a youthful workforce who doesn’t want to spend three years using legacy tools, to agency admins who laughed that their internal company AI chat keeps giving them the wrong information about producer data in their systems, there’s a better future state that comes from pushing through to accurate data.

• Jurisdiction Jambalaya: Stirring the Pot of Adjuster Licensing
• Jazzing Up Insurance Regulation: AI-Powered Harmonies for Distribution in the Big Easy

No. 7: Beignets > Breakouts

Powdered sugar powers networking. In New Orleans, the best hallway track starts at Café du Monde.
This one isn’t really about insurance, it’s just a fact.

No. 8: The industry has come a long, long way, and there’s room to grow

SILA abounded with conversations about processes that are difficult (producer licensing), ridiculous (adjuster licensing), and downright impossible (affiliations), but it was also a good reminder of just how much progress industry regulators and stakeholders have made.

Monicka Richmeier, Director of the Licensing Division with the Kansas Department of Insurance, perhaps said it best in her session:

“There’s room for change, room to innovate and say ‘we don’t have to do that.’ But it’s also critical to appreciate the people who already did the work—regulators and industry people who cared. The hard work of the past forms our future, and I encourage each of you to be that person who innovates and who pushes forward and gets involved.”

• The Regulator Drill Chart: PLMA, State Licensing Handbook, and UL Standards

To learn more about how AgentSync is working to improve the experience for everyone in the distribution channel pipeline, check out a demo. For everyone else, we’ll see you at SILA 2026 in Chicago!