The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) is reviewing the life and health insurance sector to find out if clients are being treated fairly.
As part of its fiscal 2020–21 assessment, FSRA will focus on insurers’ adoption of principles to treat clients fairly, and on how managing general agencies (MGAs) contracted by insurers uphold fair treatment standards, the regulator said in a release on Tuesday.
“To ensure consumers’ needs and interests are put first and to set clear conduct expectations of the industry, FSRA will review insurer policies, processes and practices in these two important areas,” the release said.
An accompanying report said all FSRA-licensed life insurance companies may be subject to a supervisory or thematic review.
While FSRA doesn’t regulate MGAs, the regulator said it will review the relationship between insurers and MGAs to understand how they, along with agents, interact with clients during sales.
“One of our goals will be to determine whether the public interest is being well served,” the report said.
In 2018, FSRA predecessor the Financial Services Commission of Ontario published guidance to treat financial services consumers fairly, applicable to the insurance, credit union/caisse popular, loan and trust, and mortgage brokering sectors.
The assessment announced on Tuesday supports FSRA’s goals and priorities in its annual business plan for 2020–23, including “enhancing market conduct oversight to protect consumers.”