The independent financial Brokers of Canada will use its growing clout in the financial services industry to protect its members from a regulatory environment seen as increasingly hostile to advisors, says its new president.

“We’ve reached a critical mass [in membership] and now it’s time to utilize that,” says Merlin Chouinard, who was elected to a three-year term as president of the Mississauga, Ont.-based IFB at the group’s annual general meeting in August.

Chouinard replaces David Barber, who served as president since 1999 and tripled the group’s membership to 4,000 during his tenure. Barber was re-elected to another term on the association’s board.

Founded in 1985 as the Life Insurance Agents and Brokers Association, the IFB is a national, not-for-profit entity for independent insurance and mutual fund advisors. It serves as an advocacy group for its members and as a provider of errors and omission insurance and continuing education.

The group has been especially dogged in pressuring government and regulators to alter or rethink regulations it believes work against its membership’s interest. Two years ago, the IFB and other industry groups successfully lobbied the Ontario Securities Commission to send out for further consultation its fair-dealing model initiative, which has met with advisor resistance.

A 35-year veteran of the insurance and financial services industry, Chouinard is founder and president of Sentinel Financial Group of Saskatoon. The firm, which also has offices in Calgary and Winnipeg, is the parent of a life insurance company, a mutual fund dealership and a mortgage brokerage.

Chouinard joined the IFB in 2000 and was elected to its board and executive committee in 2002. He is a past president of the Life Insurance Managers Association of Canada and past vice president of the Life Underwriters Association of Canada.

Lawmakers’ overzealousness in legislating the industry has had a “negative effect on the performance of the financial services entrepreneur,” he says. Lawyers have been opportunistic in targeting advisors, he adds, and regulators are frustrating advisors with an “infinite dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s” that is part of today’s ever more stringent compliance environment.

“[The advisory industry] is losing a lot of good people every day,” he says.
Chouinard is the first president of IFB from Western Canada, a significant development for an association whose membership is still based mostly in Ontario. The group is keen to expand its membership nationally, especially in the West. IE