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Equisure reaches agreement with Quebec regulator


December 16, 2005   by Canadian Underwriter


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Equisure Financial Network Inc. has announced an agreement with the Autorit des marchs financiers (AMF) that will conclude the Quebec regulatory agency’s examination into the business practices of the property and casualty insurance brokerages that Equisure represents in the province.
Under its agreement with the AMF, which started its enquiry in March 2005, Equisure has agreed to pay the global sum of Cdn$800,000 to strengthen its consumer disclosure practices regarding the ownership links of brokerages it represents. The money will also be used to review Equisure’s portfolio transfers and its corporate structures.
Equisure Financial Network, of which ING Canada is a shareholder, is a holding company that represents property and casualty insurance brokerages across Canada.
In 2000, ING bought a network of insurance brokerages called Equisure. Then ING began working to sell off 50% of each brokerage to local insurance professionals – to ensure that these businesses continued to be genuine community-based enterprises focused on serving their local customers.
Former Equisure brokers offer ING products, but they are free to offer those of other companies and do so, according to ING’s Web site. “ING has adopted a policy to ensure that its partial ownership of former Equisure brokerages is fully disclosed to customers at point-of-sale,” ING says.


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