CSIO president reacts to industry milestone

Nova Scotia’s superintendent of insurance issued a bulletin approving the use of digital pink slips for auto insurance earlier this month, becoming the first province in the country to do so.

The move was lauded by Catherine Smola, president and CEO of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO).

Related: Nova Scotia becomes first province to approve digital pink slips

“We’re very encouraged by the news from Nova Scotia, which represents a major milestone for digital insurance services in Canada,” Smola told Canadian Insurance Top Broker via email.

CSIO will be launching its eDelivery solution—which sends full policy documents as well as eSlips for proof of auto insurance—in February.”

“Within Nova Scotia, this announcement means that brokers, carriers and consumers will have a head start on implementing eSlips, and will be able to leverage every benefit of the eDelivery solution as soon as it launches,” Smola said.

The groundwork for this milestone was set in 2015, when CSIO commissioned a report from national law firm Fasken that examined legislation and case studies from jurisdictions that had permitted the use of digital pink slips.

The report found that regulators in Canada could approve the use of digital pink slips via bulletin—no legislation was required. CSIO then shared the report with the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR).

“As soon as CCIR published its issues paper supporting eSlips in May 2016, we were confident it was only a matter of time until that support became a regulatory reality,” Smola said. “We applaud Nova Scotia on being the first regulator in Canada to take this important step and are optimistic that other provinces will follow suit in the coming weeks and months.”

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This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.