The Alberta Insurance Council has published a series of decisions, fining agents for failing or refusing to provide information requested by the council in a formal demand for information.

The council conducted an audit in October 2021 which sought to verify that the continuing education (CE) credits claimed on licensee’s applications for the 2020-2021 certificate term were correct. Auditees were selected at random and asked to provide proof of their CE credits.

In three separate decisions, the council outlines the procedures used to contact those being audited – each agent received at least three emails and one phone call to remind the agents of their responsibility to respond. In all three cases, the agents did provide the required evidence, but did so after their deadlines for doing so had passed. “The agent did respond, but it was outside of the period set out in the demand,” the council writes.

In the first case, life accident and sickness certificates of authority were suspended for Maria Kathrina Sunga, who had been registered from August 2019 until November 2021. Sunga says she attempted to file her CE certificates but says the email given to her was wrong. She provided a delivery failure notice as evidence of her attempt. Sunga was fined a civil penalty of $500. Similarly, life accident and sickness certificate holder, Anna Bianchi, licensed from November 2019 until November 2021 when her certificates were suspended, provided all of the records requested eight days after the deadline imposed by the council. Bianchi was also ordered to pay a civil penalty of $500.

Finally, general insurance agent, Swetha Narasimhan, also a new agent licensed from March until November 2021, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $300 after submitting her response one day after the deadline provided.