Ontario’s financial services regulator has imposed administrative penalties on a life insurance agent for his participation in a scheme to obtain funds from a policy.
According to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), Vineet Anand initiated a sequence of actions to redirect policy funds to his father, an insurance agent.
A longstanding client of Anand’s father held an Empire Life policy with a death benefit of around $275,000. The client’s spouse had been the designated beneficiary, but following her death, Anand moved to redirect the funds from the policy to a new one where his father was named the annuitant.
As part of his scheme, Anand reportedly created a letter using a blank paper pre-signed by directing Empire Life to transfer ownership of the policy to the annuitant. The letter contained the following phrase: “Upon my death, the named annuitant, Vinod Anand, will become the owner of this policy.”
On another occasion, Anand initiated a transfer of approximately $90,000 from a Canada Life policy owned by the client to the one connected with his father.
FSRA said in its enforcement action that Anand contravened the Insurance Act by failing to disclose a conflict of interest. It specifically cited section 16 of Ontario Regulation 347/04
Aside from having to pay $10,000 in administrative penalties, Anand will no longer be able to renew his license.
The final order from FSRA said: “Vineet Anand has undertaken that he will never apply to FSRA for a license to perform any act and/or provide any services for which a license is required from FSRA, either directly or indirectly through a corporate entity in which he is an officer or director or majority shareholder, or through a partnership. This includes, but is not limited to, applying for a license under the Act.”
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