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One regulatory umbrella should cover brokers and agents; IBAO says


March 27, 2009   by Canadian Underwriter


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The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) is asking the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) to consider placing the regulation of both brokers and company insurance agents under one umbrella, the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO).
“We’re trying to fill that gap that’s there between how a broker is regulated and how an agent is regulated, and bring a few more safeguards in place as it relates to the consumer,” IBAO CEO Randy Carroll says.
Carroll says the association is attempting to eliminate any possibility that consumer complaints about brokers will be treated differently than complaints about company agents.
Complaints about insurance brokers in Ontario are handled by RIBO, the brokers’ self-regulating body, which ultimately reports to FSCO.
FSCO, the regulator of the province’s entire insurance industry, directly handles consumer complaints about insurance agents working for specific companies.
IBAO wants RIBO to handle the regulation of both brokers and agents, so there isn’t an appearance that brokers and agents are regulated differently.
“I think the biggest piece that’s concerning is the whole reporting mechanism,” Carroll says. “If a consumer complains about an agent, that complaint goes to FSCO and what we see most of the time is that that agent complaint is just given back to the company.
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense. That’s like getting complaints about brokers and giving them back to the [brokerages] to handle it. You’re not too sure whether the consumers’ interests are best taken care of.”
Carroll says the IBAO’s motivation is to make sure the public is protected in the same way for brokers as it is for agents. He said he expected some “push-back” from the agents’ side about the proposal to have RIBO regulate agents.
Carroll says RIBO has indicated to him that it would be able to add the responsibility of regulating insurance agents to its mandate. 


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