The Insurance Council of British Columbia (ICoBC) has banned former general insurance agent, Lisa Anne Allan, formerly a manager at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), from applying for an insurance license for three years after it was discovered that Allan had misappropriated $16,409.90 from her former employer.
Allan, an insurance agent since 1992, admitted to her firm’s vice president of marketing that she took the funds, shortly after the agency became aware of batching anomalies that occurred at the branch where Allan was a manager. The agency had concluded that Allan had misappropriated the funds for her personal use. Allan was subsequently charged criminally, found guilty in May 2019, and has since received a conditional discharge which includes probation, community services and an order to pay $6,000 in restitution to her former employer.
“Council gave consideration to the fact that the former licensee has already received a conditional discharge for the impugned behaviour after having gone through a restorative justice program within the criminal justice system,” say the decision’s authors. “Nevertheless, as council continues to encounter incidents of professional misconduct involving licensees misappropriating funds, it was determined that a lengthy period of disqualification from holding an insurance license is necessary in order to communicate to the industry and public that such misconduct cannot be tolerated.”
In addition to having her license revoked, Allan must also pay the regulator’s investigation costs of $1,562.50 and must complete an ethics course, approved by the regulator before submitting a license application again in the future.
