Manitoba’s broker regulator has released a draft regulation allowing business people such as lawyers, bankers, rental car agents, funeral directors, and travel agents to hold a restricted licence to sell several classes of insurance.
When the regulations are in force, Manitoba will be the third Canadian province, following Alberta and Saskatchewan, to implement a restricted licence regime for the incidental sales of insurance.
As in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the regime in Manitoba relies on supervision by brokers and other industry professionals holding an insurance license.
When all is said and done, some brokers in the province believe the public is still better off buying its insurance services from an insurance broker.
“Overall, it’s better to go to a broker because you can be rest assured that you are getting comprehensive advice,” said Winnipeg broker Serena Froese. “There are consumer protections in place to protect the consumer. If I give out bad advice, consumers have a recourse to which they can go to compensate for my error in judgment.”
Manitoba’s proposed draft regulations do contain a variety of consumer protections. For example, professionals holding a restricted license must carry up to $2 million in errors and omissions insurance policy limits. And those holding the license must show they have policies and procedures in place to make sure that agents selling on their behalf are “knowledgeable” and “competent.”
The draft regulations also speak to the education of the agents. They must have the proper qualifications and satisfy the educational, training and other standards prescribed by law, the regulations say.
Froese wonders whether that means the agents acting under a restricted license will have to follow the same or similar standards for continuing education as brokers. (continued.)
“As part of my license, I have a minimum amount of hours that I need to collect in terms of continuing education credits to make sure that I know my stuff,” she said. “I would like to see that expectation put on them.
“They may not need to collect eight hours like I do, but they need to collect two to four hours of continuing education to make sure they are staying on top of how, for example, the travel industry is changing.”
The draft regulations list 14 different classes of insurance that are eligible for the restricted license to sell insurance.
“The list of permitted classes of insurance for which a restricted licence may be issued includes the usual suspects like travel and mortgage insurance, among others,” a bulletin from the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais says. “But it also includes funeral expense insurance paying up to $15,000 for funeral services under pre-arranged funeral contracts; portable electronics insurance covering damage or loss to portable electronic devices; and rented vehicle liability and rented vehicle contents insurance…”
Other types of insurance on the list include:
• Cargo insurance
• Creditor’s disability, life, loss-of-employment and vehicle inventory insurance
• Equipment insurance
• Export travel insurance
The Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba was not available for comment prior to press deadline.
Public comment on the draft regulations is open until July 2, 2013.
