The General Insurance Council of Manitoba has suspended the licence of Brendan Shawn Heppner, a Level 3 general insurance agent, for 30 days and imposed a $1,000 fine as well as an ethics course. The disciplinary action follows his unauthorized access to his former employer's insurance certificate system and the transfer of client information to a personal email account. The decision was issued on September 16, 2026.
More than 1,700 insurance certificates downloaded after resignation
Mr. Heppner resigned in May 2024 after 17 years with the brokerage. His login credentials remained active, allowing him to access its insurance certificate system on four occasions in July and August 2024.
He downloaded approximately 1,708 insurance certificates and a list of approximately 574 certificate holders, which he sent to a personal Hotmail account. These certificates contained client names, addresses, policy numbers and coverage information.
The Council upheld a single charge: conduct unbecoming of a licensee.
On October 28, 2024, the former agency filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Heppner. On November 7, 2024, it submitted a formal complaint to the regulator.
The Council specifies, however, that its concerns do not relate to contractual or civil matters.
Mr. Heppner responded in writing to the investigator's questions and acknowledged the facts. He waived his right to a hearing and expressly accepted the terms of the proposed decision.
Council rejects security-testing explanation
Mr. Heppner explained that he had accessed the system to check whether his credentials were still active and to identify a possible security flaw. He denied any intention of deriving personal benefit from the information and said he had deleted the emails he received. He also argued that much of the information in the certificates was publicly available online.
The Council rejected his explanations, concluding that he had knowingly accessed the system without authorization on multiple occasions and deliberately transferred a significant volume of confidential client information to his personal email account. It characterized the conduct as a pattern of behaviour involving a breach of trust and a lack of integrity, rather than an isolated or inadvertent act.
The Council noted that Mr. Heppner had no obligation to monitor the status of his credentials. However, once he discovered they remained active, he should have refrained from accessing client information and promptly notified the brokerage.
The Council drew no conclusion of criminal or civil wrongdoing. Confidential client information was exposed to an unnecessary risk of unauthorized access, loss or disclosure. The Council specifies that this exposure constitutes a risk, without ruling on any subsequent actions by Mr. Heppner.
30-day suspension, fine and ethics course
Mr. Heppner's Level 3 general insurance licence was suspended for 30 days, effective when the decision became final. He was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $3,468.75 in investigation costs, and to complete a Council-approved ethics course within 30 days of the decision becoming final. The Council considered his lack of prior disciplinary history.
The result is systematically verified and edited by a member of our editorial team, who confirms the facts and brings the text in line with our standards. We assume full editorial responsibility for it, as we do for all our content. This combination of custom technology and professional journalistic oversight allows us to cover more developments across the industry without compromising the quality or relevance of our work.
Our approach adheres to the journalistic code of ethics of the Quebec Press Council and to the Paris Charter on AI and Journalism. To learn more about our principles and commitments in this area, see our artificial intelligence usage policy
