An agent who was first licensed in 2019 and who had never successfully completed sufficient continuing education credits during the years she was licensed, has been fined $3,500 by the Insurance Council of British Columbia.
Satvir Kaur Parmar, first licensed in August 2019, was discovered when she left the code of conduct, rules, British Columbia resident, continuing education (CE) and errors and omissions (E&O) insurance declarations unchecked on her 2022 annual renewal declaration.
At the subsequent audit where Parmar was ordered to submit proof of E&O insurance and CE records, she was granted three extensions to provide her CE records and to contact CE providers to obtain them. Parmar maintains that she completed sufficient credits every year but was unable to keep a record of them. Many of the records Parmar provided during the audit were also duplicates.
Initially short 27.5 credits, she completed 17 during the proceedings and was left with 10.5 CE credits outstanding. In its decision, the council noted that it had no reason to depart from the baseline sanction of $1,000 per breach, for a total of $3,000.
“Council did not consider there to be any mitigating factors,” the decision states. “Council found several aggravating factors. In particular, council noted that having first been licensed in 2019, the licensee was in breach of her CE obligations for the entire duration of her licensure. Council further considered that the licensee’s failure to put in place any system to avoid a similar breach in the future demonstrated a lax attitude towards her obligations as a licensee.”
In addition to charging Parmar $1,000 for each licensing period under consideration, the council also assessed a $500 penalty for making misstatements to the council. Parmar was also ordered to complete the Council Rules Course for life and/or accident & sickness insurance and the Continuing Education Requirements and Guidelines course and make up the missing 10.5 CE credits before completing her 2026 annual license renewal. Parmar was also ordered to pay $437.50 in investigation costs.