Following a recent decision issued by the General Insurance Council of Manitoba, operating agent, Randy Jagmohan-Singh will pay fines of $8,000 and costs totalling $3,000 after it was found that agents working in his firm’s national call centre processed business for Manitoba clients when they were not licensed in that province.
An investigation was commenced in response to information received by the council, to determine if Singh violated the province’s Insurance Act by permitting four agency employees to act as agents without holding valid insurance licenses.
Although he’d signed agency attestation forms indicating that he understood that he was required to ensure that unlicensed individuals not process business, four different individuals were found to have conducted insurance business in the province when they collected property details, quoted and underwrote Manitoba properties and completed binding policies after being trained but before becoming licensed in the province.
“The four identified agency employees were not allowed to hold themselves out as agents to members of the public in Manitoba. They were licensed agents in other provinces and serviced their clients through the agency’s national call centre,” the decision states, adding that business processes requiring the agents to transfer the calls to a licensed advisor were not followed “due to human error.”
They add that the agency’s system is not configured to identify and stop agents from quoting or binding a policy in jurisdictions where the agent is not licensed. “The agency is exploring options for system enhancements,” they write.
Although the unlicensed activities were reported in a sufficient amount of time, the council notes that the unlicensed activity continued. “The licensee failed to adequately manage the agency,” they conclude.
