The Insurance Council of British Columbia has fined Lung Hwa (Andy) Tan $5,000, assessed investigation costs in the amount of $3,562.50 and ordered the general insurance agent to complete remedial education after it was reported that he took confidential client information from his former insurance agency. Tan was also fined for discrediting a former colleague to insurance clients and for processing payments using his unlicensed company’s credit card.
“The licensee’s lawyer provided two forms that had been executed by insurance clients in 2022, which, according to the licensee’s lawyer, authorized the licensee to deal with those clients’ personal or insurance information. The licensee’s lawyer also provided further submissions regarding an insurance agent’s right to take a list of insurance clients and their contact information when moving between insurance agencies,” the intended decision in the case states.
Evidence provided by the director of sales at Tan’s former agency, meanwhile, “tended to demonstrate” that Tan forwarded client information to his personal email address, contacted an Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) client via social media to renew their insurance, completed agency payment transactions for clients through Tan’s private business credit card and personal email and made comments to an insurance client disparaging a former colleague.
Implied former colleague might be untrustworthy
“Council accepts that the personal comments that the licensee made about his former colleague at the former agency appear to have been an isolated incident. Nevertheless, the personal comments that the licensee made about the former colleague were not innocent and were clearly calculated to discredit the former colleague, particularly when the licensee stated that the former colleague was “double dipping on our clients”, which implied that the former colleague might be an untrustworthy person,” the intended decision states. “In the circumstances, the personal comments made by the licensee about the former colleague were clearly inappropriate and in breach of the licensee’s professional obligations.”
The former agency and Tan ended their working relationship in January 2022. There was no signed contract between the independent contractor and the agency.
The ICBC, meanwhile, also weighed in during the investigation, providing notes, including an email sent to Tan in February 2022 stating that if an individual leaves an insurance agency to work independently or for another insurance agency, they are not permitted to take personal information with them for any purpose, including for soliciting business.
In May that year Tan was suspended by the ICBC for 90 days. It also required the agent to take additional training at the time. “The licensee was also sent an email reminder that ICBC clients “don’t belong to anyone”,” the intended decision states.
In its analysis of the case, the council noted that the information taken included non-business phone numbers, email addresses and other personal information. “Council specifically disagrees with the suggestion that the client information only consisted of contact information within the meaning of PIPA (British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act),” they write. “With respect to the vast majority of those individual clients, there is no evidence that the licensee obtained express consent.”
