Ontario insurance regulator revokes life licences

(August 18, 2004) The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has revoked the life insurance licences of five agents for various infractions. The provincial insurance regulator released its latest monitoring and enforcement report this week.

The agents were identified by FSCO as David Braganza, Joseph Caputo, Sahil Celly, Arvind Singh and Gaetan Lefebvre. In settlement agreements, Braganza admitted to misappropriating investment funds from a client while Caputo changed the policy period dates on his errors and omissions insurance certificate.

Celly engaged in improper sales activity by having two unlicensed persons take information from potential clients and provide it to him for electronic input. In Singh’s case, irregularities concerning the signatures of policyholders and witnesses on insurance applications were discovered and Lefebvre failed to complete his continuing education credits after being given a 30-day suspension for the same infraction earlier in the year.

One insurance case ended up in provincial court in the first quarter. Michael Ricci pleaded guilty to four counts of knowingly making false statements to an insurer to obtain payment for goods and services. He was fined $8,000.

Late last year, FSCO’s advisory board held a hearing in the case of Lee Burton, a life agent accused of cheating on his insurance exam. The board recommended a four-month suspension, but FSCO’s superintendent intervened, and ordered Burton’s licence to be revoked.

“Conspiracy to cheat on an examination is a serious matter since it puts the agent’s interests ahead of his/her clients and is dishonest,” the superintendent wrote in his decision. The case is currently under appeal.

FSCO reviewed 32 complaints against life agents in Q1 and initiated 27 investigations, mostly regarding the conduct of agents. The regulator also conducted more than 5,000 background checks on existing and prospective agents with the Canadian Police Information Centre.

In the year-ending March 31, 2004, FSCO reports a total of 195 enforcement actions, including 44 letters of censure, 17 court cases and 14 licence withdrawals.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, doug.watt@advisor.rogers.com