The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has imposed $800,000 in administrative penalties against third party administrator (TPA), Specialty Life Inc. (SLI). It has imposed a number of conditions on the company’s corporate insurance license – namely, it must retain and compensate a compliance monitor for its operations.

Additionally, the company’s parent company at the time, Insurance Supermarket Inc., is prohibited from acquiring a majority interest in Specialty Life or any other managing general agency (MGA), TPA or other insurance intermediary in Ontario. It is also prohibited from operating as such itself in the province.

The sanctions stem from an investigation initiated by an insurer not affiliated with SLI.

“While investigating the insurer’s complaint, FSRA contacted SLI regarding any policies written by agents of Daumier Financial (Services Inc., operating as Daumier Financial Services Ltd.). This prompted SLI to review the substantial volume of applications,” the minutes of settlement in the case states.

According to the notice of proposal, Daumier, Global Insurance Solutions Inc. (both MGAs at the time), along with Alessandra Giannini and Inparanee Kanagasabey submitted more than 6,500 applications for policyholders that did not exist or had not applied for insurance. Red flags noted in the minutes of settlement included repeated payors, premium to income discrepancies, repeated bank accounts among unrelated payors, low persistency rates and use of the agent’s corporate address on a substantial number of policies.

SLI reportedly paid commissions and bonuses of up to 200 per cent of a policy’s premium within 24 hours of receiving a policy application.

“SLI paid out significant amounts in commissions and bonuses on the Applications. A portion of funds were returned to SLI by Daumier Financial or Giannini and Kanagasabey in the form of premiums on the fraudulent policies in order for the agents associated with Daumier Financial and Giannini and Kanagasabey to maintain the scheme,” the minutes of settlement states. “In hindsight, SLI acknowledges that it did not have adequate systems in place.”

The minutes also note that SLI’s principals began operations as a company that sold insurance leads to corporate and individual agents. “As the company evolved it did not put in place adequate systems to sufficiently protect against fraudulent activity.”

Staff raised concerns

As early as 2021, SLI’s own staff raised concerns about the business being generated by the two MGAs and brokers associated with the two agents. Executives attended the agent’s place of business to review their book. “Despite red flags, SLI executives accepted the explanations provided by Giannini and Kanagasabey and allowed them to continue to submit applications and earn commissions.”

Since the FSRA investigation took place, the company has increased its compliance staff and made changes to its business model. In particular, the minutes note that the company no longer uses third party life agents or MGAs to distribute insurance. It currently has 105 licensed insurance agents on staff. Additionally, Empire Life purchased an 80 per cent stake in the company in December 2025. “As a result, the owners and executives in charge at the time of the contraventions are no longer with SLI,” the minutes in the case state.

When contacted by the Insurance Portal, SLI’s chief marketing officer, Mickey Rubin distanced the company from its past, pointing out that the order relates to business activity which occurred between 2019 and 2023 when SLI was operating in the independent distribution channel.

New leadership

“The underlying issue was connected to former external independent advisors and a third-party distribution division that is no longer part of SLI’s current infrastructure,” he writes. “This former distribution model is separate from SLI’s current operations and has no connection to the current SLI call centre or its salaried, licensed advisors. As of December 2025, SLI has been operating under a new ownership structure and leadership.” The company’s president and chief operating officer, Jay McMahon joined SLI from PPI in April 2026.

Going forward, the firm must appoint an independent monitoring firm to independently review the company’s policies, procedures, staffing and any other elements it considers reasonably necessary to validate whether SLI has a compliance system in place that is reasonably designed to prevent misrepresentations. The company has been given until March 2027 to implement remedial measures, unless the monitoring firm determines that a longer timeline is necessary. The company’s ultimate deadline to implement any necessary measures is June 30, 2027.