The Alberta Insurance Council has levied a $5,000 fine – the maximum it can impose in the case – against Harwin Aseron after the council found the agent to be guilty of misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, untrustworthiness or dishonesty. “It was unnecessary for the council to consider the alternative alleged offense,” they add in the decision concerning the agent.
The holder of a general level 1 insurance agent certificate of authority and licensed intermittently since February 2016, the insurance council commenced its investigation against Aseron after receiving a termination notice stating that he was dismissed with cause.
The agent was terminated after it was discovered that he made changes to his own personal auto insurance policy, which is against his former agency’s policies. “In addition, he did not truthfully complete the transaction and created false documents,” the firm states in the August 2021 termination notice.
Aseron reportedly issued a pink card in his name and then did another in the name of the co-signer on his vehicle. “At no time was the co-signer added to the auto policy as a named insured,” they add.
In response to the council’s demand for information, Aseron writes that the activity was a mistake, “an error on my part that I was not aware of.”
“The council acknowledged that the agent created the false liability card for his own policy, therefore not exposing any of his clients to risk. However, the council held issue with the agent creating the liability card on his own policy and the fact that the agent is an experienced general insurance agent. As the agent has been in the insurance industry for some time, the council is of the view that the agent ought to know who has an insurable interest and who does not, prior to issuing a liability card. Further, the council concluded that, as this was the agent’s personal insurance policy, the agent knew the co-signer was not a named insured on the policy.”
