Steve Masnyk is the new Managing Director of the Canadian Association of Managing General Agents (CAMGA).

Fluently bilingual, Masnyk served as Manager of Public Affairs for the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) for many years. He has also served as a consultant in recent years for organizations lobbying governments.

After hiring him to carry out a few consulting assignments, the CAMGA Association decided it wanted to give its arguments more heft, Masnyk told the Insurance Portal. The logical step was to recruit him as Managing Director.

Ambitious goal

The Association was founded two years ago to grant P&C insurance wholesalers regulatory status. In a release announcing Masnyk's appointment, Larry Shumka, CAMGA Chairman and founder of SCM, mentions that the association had been scouting for a suitable candidate for the position for about a year.

Currently, wholesalers are drifting in regulatory limbo. Better integration in the regulatory environment will enhance the professionalism of the wholesale segment, Masnyk says. He will take this message to the various provincial legislators, he told the Insurance Portal.

“Insurers have raised this issue with us over the years," Masnyk continues. “Without this regulatory system, we fall under brokers’ regulations, which does not necessarily correspond to what we do, especially since we don't deal directly with the consumer most of the time. A wholesaler is above all a risk underwriter.”

The regulatory framework that CAMGA envisions would also cover the issuance of permits allowing a firm to practice as a wholesaler, and specify the conditions of these operations, Masnyk says. “It's not the underwriting profession that we want to regulate, it's the firms," he explains. “We want to raise the level of professionalism of wholesalers and the trust that insurers and brokers place in them.”

Training

A three-module training program has also been developed jointly with the Insurance Institute of Canada, which leads to the CMGA (Canadian managing general agent) designation. The Institute has modelled the program after a similar program in the United Kingdom.

For now, one module is available: it covers managing the business of a wholesale firm. The other two modules are under development. Slated for a 2021 launch, they will address risk underwriting and business insurance.

Membership potential

Today, the association is about 20 members strong, Masnyk says. It aims to attract 100 members within six months. This is an ambitious goal, given his estimate of 125 practising wholesalers in Canada.

To join the association, wholesalers must apply. It is then up to the board of directors to approve the application, or not.

In addition to Shumka, the CAMGA board of directors includes Gary Hirst, of CHES Special Risk, Grant Kimball, of Angus Miller, Mike Lough, of Frank Cowan, Marc Lipman, of Lloyds, and Paul McCague, of McCague Borlack.