The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) is planning to step up its regulatory regime to meet international insurance regulation standards.
In the final version of its statement of priorities and strategic directions for 2012 released on June 30, FSCO announced it would be implementing the International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ (IAIS) core principles of insurance regulation related to market conduct.
IAIS is a global organization representing insurance regulators from over 190 jurisdictions. Its core principles outline standards for issues that range from licensing to the fair treatment of clients.
“IAIS has established international standards for regulators … if we are out of line with those standards, then we will have to take steps, which could mean changes to our governance structure or to the law (the Ontario Insurance Act) itself,” said Grant Swanson, executive director of licensing & market conduct division with FSCO.
To implement the IAIS core principles, FSCO will work with the IAIS Core Principles Implementation Committee of the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators.
If changes are to be made to the Ontario Insurance Act, Swanson added, those changes will not be out of the blue.
“We will be looking for industry feedback as we go along, they won’t be a surprise.”
The remainder of the final version of FSCO’s statement of priorities remains unchanged from the draft it released in April.