Overview:

Supervision of General Insurance Salespersons Guidelines

Why introduce supervision guidelines?

Insurance Council licensees have previously expressed the need for more clarity on what is considered adequate and appropriate supervision for salespersons. Additionally, the current temporary suspension of the Rule 6(1)(b) location restriction for salespersons prompted inquiries as to how nominees should demonstrate that sufficient oversight is in place when salespersons work remotely.

• The proposed supervision guidelines clarify expectations for nominees, supervisors and salespersons— consolidating and updating guidance previously issued through Notices to licensees.

• The guidelines also address expectations for nominees in providing oversight to salespersons working onsite or remotely, reflecting the removal of the location restriction.

View the Draft Guidelines

About supervision requirements for salespersons

General insurance level 1 salespersons (salespersons) are required to be supervised by a general insurance agent when conducting insurance activities.

Nominees are responsible for ensuring all activities of the insurance agency – this includes the supervision of licensees operating within the conditions and restrictions of their licences. Nominees and licensees with supervisory duties must fulfill those duties to ensure that supervised licensees carry out the business of insurance competently.

 

About the location restriction and Rule 6(1)(b)

In March 2020, the Insurance Council requested and obtained the Minister of Finance’s approval of an urgent temporary rule change to suspend the location restriction requiring salespersons to work onsite at their agency. This was done to permit working from home to limit the spread of COVID-19 while enabling continued public access to insurance services. This temporary rule expires in June 2022 and will be replaced with a permanent change to Rule 6(1)(b) that will remove the experience requirement for the location restriction in its entirety.

About the draft guidelines

The proposed guidelines provide the Insurance Council’s expectations, requirements and best practices for:

• Nominees and agents in their role as supervisors of salespersons.
• Salespersons in abiding by the conditions and restrictions of their licence.
• The delegation of a nominee’s supervisory duties and the nominee’s responsibility for proper supervision and governance of an agency.

The guidelines:

• Set out criteria to be used by nominees to determine the supervision appropriate for a salesperson according to the salesperson’s level of competence based on experience, knowledge, and the salesperson’s individual learning curve.

• Identify indicators of appropriate supervision that the Insurance Council expects, including:

  • Availability of the nominee or delegate

  • Agency supervision policy

  • Privacy and client confidentiality requirements

  • Documentation of agency policy and procedures.

• Identify remote supervision considerations to help nominees determine whether remote supervision is feasible for their agency.

• Outline how a supervisor can assess a salesperson’s competence through quality assurance measures.

Key points:

• Nominees determine what appropriate supervision looks like based on their assessment of the salesperson’s competence, which should be consistent with the salesperson’s knowledge, experience, training and skillset.

• Regardless of whether salespersons are supervised onsite or remotely, the oversight provided onsite and/or offsite should achieve the same goals in that adequate and appropriate supervision is provided.

• It is at the discretion of the nominee to determine whether the salespersons at their agency can work offsite; there is no requirement for agencies and nominees to adopt this practice if it does not fit the agency’s business model or compromises the client’s interests.

 

Contact Us

For questions about the proposed draft guidelines or stakeholder engagement please contact us.
 
Questions about the draft supervision guidelines:
Yo Yo Wong
Policy Analyst, Practice & Quality Assurance 
consultation@insurancecouncilofbc.com

Questions about the consultation:
Melinda Lau
Manager, Communications
consultation@insurancecouncilofbc.com