RegWatch Special Investigation – read full article by Simon Avery
Watch feature video – hear Simon Avery analysis
Quebec give-away. That’s what some say happened to the life insurance agents training program in Canada. Provincial insurance regulators dropped a bombshell on stakeholders announcing they had cut a backroom deal with Quebec to harmonize the insurance training program under a single provider, the AMF, creating a monopoly and wiping out the private sector market.
RegulatorWatch.com has conducted an in-depth investigation into the events leading up to the new nationalized program and have found contradictions between what regulators are saying publically and what was discussed privately and revealed in internal documents obtained by RegulatorWatch.com.
Excerpt from Special Investigation – by Simon Avery
In July 2012, the organization representing insurance regulators across the country dropped a bombshell. The national licensing program, which Quebec had refused to join for years, would be revamped to include Quebec. In return, Quebec’s regulator would receive a contract to educate and license all new Canadian insurance agents, at the expense of private sector firms.
The Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO) and its provincial members had reason to be proud: they were creating a truly national regulatory system that included Quebec, even as the federal government continued to be stymied in its efforts to build a national securities regulator.
But not all stakeholders have been celebrating. Many in the industry remain angry and concerned that the deal was inked without their knowledge or input. They question why an overhaul to a system that has been running well was even needed. Private sector companies in this niche education market complain that they will lose millions of dollars of revenue, which will instead land in the coffers of Quebec’s regulator.
Veteran players in the industry say they are concerned that the new training program will raise barriers to entry for the roughly 10,000 new agents in training each year, by making the exam and materials more difficult, and the process more expensive and time consuming.
FSCO knew that there would be costs to the deal and its officials ramped up efforts to manage disgruntled stakeholders.
Simon Avery – RegulatorWatch.com – June 29, 2015
Sr. Writer & Analyst for RegulatorWatch.comÂ
Simon Avery is a writer and editor who has worked as a business reporter for The Globe and Mail, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and the National Post. He specializes in governance, financial markets, telecom and technology.
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