The Insurance Council of British Columbia has suspended Wendy Chui Ping Kwan for processing her own Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) Autoplan transactions, for misrepresenting the principal operator of her personal vehicle on several policies and then misrepresented the situation when the council first began investigating her conduct.
Licensed with council since October 1986 and a level 2 general insurance agent since March 2000, the council began an investigation into her conduct after the ICBC advised them that Kwan had been banned from conducting ICBC Autoplan transactions for nine months. When asked by council why she’d been prohibited, she stated that she used her login credentials to process her own personal car insurance renewal.
When the ICBC provided its own report to council, it included investigation records which showed Kwan also misrepresented the principal operator of the vehicle.
During its investigation, Kwan’s agency stated that they were unaware of her actions. Kwan submitted that she worked at the agency since 1986 and that the agency remained a two-person office until it was sold in January 2019. She stated that the other employee, the previous nominee had been aware of her processing her own insurance renewals since the early 1990s. She further indicated that she was not informed and not aware that she was prohibited from processing her own car insurance.
When Kwan’s car was stolen and then recovered, a search revealed an employee parking pass, a parking ticket and a baseball cap belonging to Kwan’s son, who later admitted to being the current principal operator of the vehicle. (Kwan’s husband was listed as the principal operator with the son only using the vehicle for pleasure.)
In an interview with ICBC, Kwan acknowledged that she was familiar with the concept of principal operator and stated that her son did not drive the vehicle often. (Initially she maintained that her son had never driven the car to school.) She later said her son had then only been driving the vehicle for a month. ICBC denied the vehicle claim due to the misdeclaration.
“ICBC determined that the misdeclaration had been made for several years and was financially motivated to avoid the premium costs associated with the son being listed as the principal operator,” the council’s intended decision states.
“In particular, council found that the licensee’s decision to misrepresent the principal operator of her personal vehicle for several years amounted to a serious violation,” they add. “The licensee improperly used her position as an insurance licensee for personal gain. In addition, by not disclosing to council that the ICBC suspension was partly due to the misrepresentation, council determined that the licensee did not act in good faith.”
In addition to being suspended for one year, Kwan’s level 2 license will be downgraded to a level 1 general insurance salesperson license for one year of active licensing, commencing at the end of her suspension. She is also required to complete the Insurance Institute’s Ethics and the Insurance Professional course, the council Rules Course for general insurance salespersons and agents, must complete the Autoplan Basics program, and must pay the council’s investigation costs of $2,312.50.
