The Life Insurance Council of Manitoba has fined former licensee, Aime Edmond Grenier, for pretending to be a client while on the phone with the client’s insurance company. After receiving information from an insurer that Grenier provided client information to another agent, the council commenced an investigation to determine whether Grenier had violated the Insurance Act and sections of the agent’s code of conduct.

While the council took no issue with the former agent assisting another agent to collect information about one client, dubbed “Insured A” in the decision documents, it did identify concerns where the former licensee acted on behalf of “Insured B,” Insured A’s husband.

The council found that Grenier acted on the husband’s behalf, by completing a life insurance application with an insurance company, dubbed “Insurer B.” the resulting policy served as replacement life insurance coverage for an existing policy through another company, Insurer A.

When selling the policy, it was found that Grenier failed to complete a written explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of replacing the existing policy – a document known as a Written Comparative Analysis (WCA). The investigation also revealed that the former licensee called Insurer A, claiming to be the policy holder, to gather information about the policy cancellation process at renewal time. Grenier also told the customer service representative that replacement of the existing policy with Insurer A was not intended.

Council found that failing to complete a WCA was an unfair or deceptive act according to the Insurance Act. Council also found that Grenier’s misrepresentations to Insurer A “to be antithetical to the standards of professional conduct expected by the council.” Regarding the phone call, council concluded that Grenier violated several sections of the Insurance Act, including sections pertaining to misrepresentation and dishonesty. He also violated sections of the agent’s code of conduct which address professionalism.

All told, council fined Grenier $1,500 and assessed investigation costs of $1,200.