The general insurance council of the Alberta Insurance Council has fined Sarah White after the former agent refused to provide information and documentation requested by the council through a formal demand for information while it was investigating her conduct, following a complaint.
The holder of a general level 1 certificate of authority and licensed periodically from March 2016 until she resigned in January 2022, White was sent a request for information, by email and priority mail, both of which were returned as undeliverable in December 2021.
Investigators then sent the request for information to White’s email address as it appeared on her former agency’s website and sent the demand to the former agency’s mailing address. In January 2022, the former agency advised the council that White had resigned from her position and provided updated contact information for the agent. In January 2022 the council again sent the demand to the agent by priority mail and email. “To date, the agent has not responded to the demand,” the council writes in its decision.
In the decision, the council ordered White to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000, the maximum penalty it could levy under the circumstances.
“The public relies on the Alberta Insurance Council to investigate complaints and the (Insurance) Act requires that current and former certificate holders produce information when called upon,” they add. “The council is of the view that the public is not well-served when an insurance intermediary simply ignores demands like those made in this situation.”
