The Alberta Insurance Council (AIC), in a series of decisions related to its October 2021 continuing education (CE) audit of licensees, has levied fines against several agents who failed or refused to provide information requested by way of a formal demand for information.
The AIC writes that it conducted the annual audit to verify that the CE credits claimed on licensees’ applications for the 2020-2021 certificate term were correct. The auditees were selected at random and asked to provide proof of their CE credits. In all cases the agents’ certificates of authority were suspended when they failed to provide their CE records.
In October and November 2021, the AIC sent auditees four emails and one telephone call each to remind them about the demand for information. In the cases where agents responded after receiving the council’s follow up report, the AIC ordered $500 in civil penalties. In one case where the agent sent in proof of his CE before receiving the council’s written report, it ordered a civil penalty of $300. In the case where the agent did not respond to the demand at all, council ordered the agent to pay $1,000, the maximum allowable penalty.
“Council is of the view that the public is not well-served when agents fail to comply with demands, like the demand made in this case,” they write.
In the series of separate decisions, the council ordered Shelina Lalani, Rajesh Ram and Muhammad Asif Raza, to pay a civil penalty of $500 each. Misherjit Mander was ordered to pay $300 and Damian Olson was ordered to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000.
