The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (ACCAP-Quebec) has joined other associations and businesses who have been calling on the Quebec government to table a long-awaited financial sector reform bill in Quebec.

In an announcement issued Sept. 27, ACCAP Quebec stated that life and health insurance companies have been “anxiously waiting” for the updating of Quebec’s Act respecting insurance and of the Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services. "The current legislation must be modernized and the framework be made more flexible, so that life and health insurance companies may evolve and innovate in order to respond to consumers' changing needs, while adequately ensuring their protection," underlined Lyne Duhaime, President of ACCAP-Quebec.

Industry undergoing transformation

ACCAP Quebec says the insurance and financial services industry is undergoing “a comprehensive transformation” and a regulatory framework is needed that is adapted to current practices. "The balance sought through this modernization of the legislation will in time allow for innovation, help maintain a strong industry, and better protect the life and health insurers' 6,500,000 clients in Québec," says Duhaime.

Last week Desjardins Group also called for the tabling of a bill to modernize the financial sector framework, saying it is needed to eliminate confusion. The Insurance Bureau of Canada and Regroupement des cabinets de courtage d'assurance du Québec, a provincial general insurance brokers’ association, have also called for the bill to be tabled quickly.