The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has selected a number of life and health insurers to answer a series of questions about managing general agents (MGAs).

On May 26, 2025, the regulator will send them a questionnaire on their MGA business practices and distribution channels. FSRA says this initiative is part of “a phased approach”.

Insurers’ responses will help identify any additional risks - Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario

FSRA told Insurance Portal that as the questionnaire will only be distributed to select insurers, “the document will not be made public at this point.” Nor will the regulator make the responses public at present. “Insurers’ responses will help identify any additional risks and shape future supervisory priorities,” a notice on FSRA’s website states.

Forthcoming licensing requirement 

The questionnaire comes on the heels of a forthcoming licensing requirement for managing general agents operating in Ontario. The consultation initiated by FSRA in January ended on April 30. This was the consultation on proposed Rule 2025-001 - Managing General Agents for Life and Health Insurance.

The following day, Huston Loke, FSRA's Executive Vice President of Market Conduct, discussed the matter with Stephen Frank, President and CEO of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), during a panel at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (CAILBA).

At the panel, Loke said that the consultation had elicited many comments from both MGAs and other organizations. He added that FSRA would spend the next few weeks analyzing them. At the time of writing, the regulator had not yet published any of them on its website.

For his part, Frank stated that he was making the MGA licensing project his priority. “It’s one of those interesting times where industry is as interested as the regulator in getting this regulation updated… We want to get it done and behind us.”  

During the discussion, Huston Loke raised a number of examples of misconduct in the channel, including the sale of policies to real customers based on false information. Stephen Frank, for his part, said that adopting a clearer framework, with clear accountabilities, a clear sense of the rules and clear oversight, would help address the problems raised by FSRA.

For its part, Quebec has no plans to require an MGA license, since the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) oversees firms there, explained Louise Gauthier, the regulator’s Senior Director, Distribution Policies, in a panel discussion that preceded the one with Loke and Frank. “MGAs are already registered as firms in Quebec,” explained Gauthier.

Alain Thériault in collaboration with Kate McCaffery