Are you ready for self- regulation? Advocis certainly thinks so.
Advocis is hoping the Ontario government’s review into FSCO’s mandate will lead to a shakeup of life insurance regulation.
“What we might see is the government divesting itself of the responsibility of day to day oversight of these insurance agents and Advocis could certainly take on that kind of responsibility,” said Pollock. “So that would relieve governments of that responsibility. Obviously they would audit an organization like Advocis to ensure that we’re carrying out those responsibilities appropriately. We think at the end of the day that would be more efficient in terms of this oversight.”
The government’s review into FSCO and the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DICO) includes broad consultations with the financial services sectors regulated by these two agencies, such as the insurance sector, pension plans and credit unions.
“This is the first time a mandate review of FSCO and DICO is being undertaken,” said Scott Blodgett, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance. “The FSCO Act has not been significantly amended or reviewed since its enactment in 1997, and the scope of FSCO’s mandate has changed over the years.”
FSCO came under fire just before the New Year after a scathing report from the auditor general found issues with the regulator around licensing and E&O insurance for life insurance advisors.
“We did anticipate this because of the auditor general’s report,” said Pollock. “In that report the auditor general did suggest there might be some opportunities for government to download some of the responsibilities that currently exist within FSCO to some of the established professional associations currently in existence.”
FSCO currently regulates a number of different sectors in Ontario – the insurance sector; pension plans; loan and trust companies; credit unions and caisses populaires; the mortgage brokering sector; co-operative corporations; and service providers who invoice auto insurers for statutory accident benefits claims.
“When you look at their responsibilities they’re quite diverse, so in a simple word I would say yes (they are overloaded),” said Pollock. “This would certainly allow them to focus on various aspects of their oversight responsibilities. This is going to be a full review of the mandate, but the auditor general did focus in on insurance advisors so it’s that focus that we were particularly looking at. I really can’t speak to the rest of their mandate in terms of let’s say pension oversight or mortgage broker oversight.”
“What we might see is the government divesting itself of the responsibility of day to day oversight of these insurance agents and Advocis could certainly take on that kind of responsibility,” said Pollock. “So that would relieve governments of that responsibility. Obviously they would audit an organization like Advocis to ensure that we’re carrying out those responsibilities appropriately. We think at the end of the day that would be more efficient in terms of this oversight.”
The government’s review into FSCO and the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DICO) includes broad consultations with the financial services sectors regulated by these two agencies, such as the insurance sector, pension plans and credit unions.
“This is the first time a mandate review of FSCO and DICO is being undertaken,” said Scott Blodgett, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance. “The FSCO Act has not been significantly amended or reviewed since its enactment in 1997, and the scope of FSCO’s mandate has changed over the years.”
FSCO came under fire just before the New Year after a scathing report from the auditor general found issues with the regulator around licensing and E&O insurance for life insurance advisors.
“We did anticipate this because of the auditor general’s report,” said Pollock. “In that report the auditor general did suggest there might be some opportunities for government to download some of the responsibilities that currently exist within FSCO to some of the established professional associations currently in existence.”
FSCO currently regulates a number of different sectors in Ontario – the insurance sector; pension plans; loan and trust companies; credit unions and caisses populaires; the mortgage brokering sector; co-operative corporations; and service providers who invoice auto insurers for statutory accident benefits claims.
“When you look at their responsibilities they’re quite diverse, so in a simple word I would say yes (they are overloaded),” said Pollock. “This would certainly allow them to focus on various aspects of their oversight responsibilities. This is going to be a full review of the mandate, but the auditor general did focus in on insurance advisors so it’s that focus that we were particularly looking at. I really can’t speak to the rest of their mandate in terms of let’s say pension oversight or mortgage broker oversight.”
