The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) issued an order imposing an administrative penalty of $52,000 on Muhammad Bajwa for engaging in unlicensed insurance activity and for representing himself to the public as an insurance agent.

Bajwa has never held a license to conduct insurance business in Ontario. Reported by Sonnet Insurance Company in June 2019, Bajwa allegedly submitted applications online to the insurer on behalf of customers, in which he provided false rating information. At the material times, Sonnet did not employ any insurance brokers.

Despite this, in the summer of 2018, Bajwa passed out business cards at automotive dealer Access Motors Inc., introducing himself as an insurance agent and a mortgage broker. He successfully recruited two salespeople at the dealership saying he would offer a referral fee of $150 to $200 to anyone at the dealership who sent him customers in need of insurance. “Bajwa listed, among other services, that he was able to offer cheap car insurance for bad drivers,” FSRA states in its reasons for proposal.

Between October 2018 and June 2019 Bajwa received 23 payments to his bank account related to Sonnet policies and activities connected to Bajwa Insurance and King’s Car insurance. The transfers totalled more than $11,000. 

Sonnet reported Bajwa after many of the policies were cancelled for misrepresentation.

“The director is satisfied that Bajwa’s activities resulted in harm to members of the public. Customers put themselves and others at risk by driving, sometimes for months on end, without knowledge that their insurance policies had been cancelled. This was aggravated where the insurer was unable to reach them due to Bajwa’s provision of false addresses or other contact information. Customers not only lost the fees they paid for Bajwa’s services but had difficulty in finding replacement insurance as these customers have been flagged for non-payment or misrepresentation,” FSRA adds.

In a related case, in February 2019 a tribunal refused Bajwa’s application for a mortgage broker’s license, in part because he provided false information on his licensing applications which omitted his prior criminal conduct of fraud and forgery. “The criminal history including the omission of a 2016 conviction for fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud, for the alleged staging of motor vehicle accidents in order to make fraudulent insurance claims for physiotherapy and other medical services,” FSRA’s notice of proposal states.

“At the material time, Bajwa was also contesting FSCO (Financial Services Commission of Ontario) rejection of his license as a mortgage broker. Bajwa was or ought to have been aware that broker activities in the financial services sectors required regulatory approval.”