A prominent American insurance company is sounding the alarm over changes to the testing system for new agents in Canada, warning that ordinary consumers could end up being harmed.
The new testing system could lead to higher costs, less agents, and less people buying life insurance, according to Primerica, which bills itself as the largest independent financial services marketing company in North America.
The company is upset the new national testing system will be administered by the stock-market regulator in Quebec, where there are significantly higher testing fees than other provinces.
It says Canadians already have less insurance coverage than most OECD countries, and Quebec is at the lower end of that range. It says the testing system to be implemented in 2016 will only make matters worse.
The company says any additional barrier to new licences will disproportionately affect working-class and immigrant communities, which it views as its target market. If less agents sign up for the tests from those communities, it says fewer people from those communities will buy insurance.
Alexander Panetta – Canadian Press –Â May 17, 2014
Want More Investigative Content?
