Darren Hamilton

RIBO Celebrates 20th Anniversary, October 1981-2001

I would like to thank my fellow brokers, RIBO Council and staff for their generous support during my term as President. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and thank you for allowing me this opportunity.

October 1, 2001 marked the 20th anniversary of RIBO's operation as a self-regulatory organization for property and casualty insurance brokers in Ontario - an achievement we should all be proud of.

Although we've all witnessed a tremendous number of changes in our industry throughout the past two decades, RIBO continues to follow the same basic guiding principles adopted by our founding fathers - serve the interests of the public, while regulating the profession.

Ensuring the protection of the public is still crucial to the continuing success of the broker profession. We strive for the highest standards in order to protect the consumer. It is only by adhering to the highest standards that we can continue to maintain widespread public confidence.

By now all brokers should have received a package containing election material, a copy of the Annual Report and a Notice of Meeting for the Annual General Meeting on November 9. Please read all of this information carefully. If you have not received this package, please contact Susan MacKenzie at the RIBO office.

The Annual Report provides RIBO Council and staff with the opportunity to brief you on the events and highlights of the previous year and explain our financial situation. If after reading the Report you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact any Council or staff members.

As I conclude my final message to you as President, I encourage each of you to exercise your right to vote in this year's election. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve you.

Yours truly,

Darren Hamilton

Barry Downs
Chairperson

How quickly the year goes by. This being my last report as the Qualification & Registration Chair, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on a few important items.

We consistently have cases where individuals take employment through a direct writer as an agent or an underwriting position with an insurance company. When this occurs the RIB Act requires that the individual resign their registration immediately. They then have 12 months in which they can reinstate provided their continuing education has been kept up to date.

I am pleased to report that we have been working with FSCO to get an agreement to accept each other's proficiency standards. This would allow a broker to obtain an agent's license and vice versa. Agents will be required to write a make-up exam on the RIB Act Regulations and Bylaws. We are confident that this should be in place at the latest by December of this year. We will keep you updated.

Another important item we have been working on is the acceptance of the Insurance Brokers of Canada's Harmonized Broker Skills. We are at the final stages of updating our broker standards to tie into the new skills report. It does not make a significant difference to our exam process as RIBO already had a broker skills report in place. This means we can have a better reciprocal agreement with other provincial regulators when all our professional standards are uniformed with the exception of provincial differences e.g. Ontario Auto and the RIB Act Regulations and Bylaws.

This year's recipient of the Chris Ward Award is Gary Forsyth of Canada Brokerlink (Ontario). He received a combined total of 85% on the Level II removal of restriction examination. This award is presented in memory of RIBO's late president Christopher J. Ward, to the individual who receives the highest mark on the first attempt at both sections of the Level II examinations.

In the last three months we've had had 42 requests for secondary business exemptions. All were granted. The exemption breakdown was as follows: 15 individuals were granted exemptions to sell financial products, 27 individuals were granted other secondary business exemptions (one of the 27 was granted an exemption at the hearing level). There were no requests to waive Level 1 or Level II exams.

It has been my pleasure acting as the Qualification and Registration Committee Chairperson. Thank you for the opportunity and support.

By Nadine Austin

An individual broker who had been licensed for two years was grand-fathered into RIBO with an unrestricted license and was principal broker of his own firm. As the marketplace tightened, the firm was taken over by another under the direction of a new principal broker. All renewals were issued under the new brokerage name and all premium payments deposited into the corresponding trust account.

Things ran smoothly for a period of time until one by one clients began calling in advising that overdue notices were being issued on accounts that had already been paid. The veteran broker had been servicing his clientele, had collected premium payments but had been depositing them into an account affiliated with his deregistered firm. The broker was terminated and the new brokerage had to pay the premiums on behalf of the clients.

Friday, November 9, 2001
MARK YOUR CALENDAR

The Nineteenth Annual General Meeting of the membership of the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario will take place on Friday, November 9, 2001, starting at 2:00 p.m. at the Toronto Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel.

A formal notice of meeting, annual report and proxy form has been mailed to each registrant in good standing.

Besides the usual business covered at every Annual Meeting, you will have an opportunity to meet and talk with this year's Council members, incoming members, senior management and many other valuable members of the RIBO staff.

All registrants in good standing are eligible to attend and to vote on matters brought before the meeting. A list of members who are qualified to vote will be available for review in the RIBO office during business hours.

Any member unable to attend the meeting is encouraged to submit a proxy to register their vote on questions that may be raised at the meeting.

Filomena Scampoli, CGA
Financial Investigator

The Council and Staff are pleased to announce the recent appointment of Filomena Scampoli to the position of Financial Investigator. As the newest member of the financial compliance team, Filomena will travel the province conducting spot checks and providing professional accounting and financial advice to the many brokers she meets along the way.

Filomena is new to the insurance industry. Previous to this position, she worked as an accountant for a manufacturing company and prior to that worked for an accounting firm. Filomena obtained her Certified General Accountant (CGA) designation in 1999 and has a Bachelor of Administrative Studies (1990) from York University.

The winner of this year's Chris Ward Memorial Award is Gary Forsyth of Canada Brokerlink. He received a combined total of 85% on the Level II removal of restriction examination. This award is presented in memory of RIBO's late president Christopher J. Ward, to the individual who receives the highest mark on the first attempt at both sections of the Level II examinations.

By Donald W. Lambie
President, 1981

A condensed version of an article originally published in 1981

RIBO is possibly the most significant development to date for general insurance intermediaries in the Province of Ontario with ultimately beneficial effect on buyers of general insurance in this province.

RIBO is not a trade association. It is the self-regulatory body, which has been incorporated to assume the regulatory power previously exercised by the Superintendent of Insurance.

It is responsible for the qualification, registration and disciplining of all those general insurance intermediaries who, in the past, operated as independent agents, brokers or insurance consultants.

Under the provisions of the new RIBO Act, all persons who were operating as independent agents and brokers in Ontario as of October 1, 1981, automatically became registered insurance brokers on that date.

Members of the RIBO Board contributed over 5,000 hours of their time to this project over the two years it took to get the RIBO legislation passed.

Drafts of what became Bill 118 (later the "Registered Insurance Brokers Act"), numbered in the 20s, and the regulation in the 30s, before we were successful in obtaining approval.

We initially presented a draft (I believe the 10^th), of the proposed legislation to each licensed agent and broker in the province in April 1980. We then conducted a blitz of meetings in 37 locations throughout the province over a two-day period for discussions and input. There were two additional updated mailings.

Each resulting comment and suggestion was carefully considered by the RIBO Committees and its Board, always using as our benchmark "is this in the best interest of the consumer?"

Self-regulation means self-discipline, self-control, and self-established minimum standards of stability and performance.

We have kept in mind that the legislation had to be compatible with the small, as well as large operation, including those in between. Any difference in treatment of the two had to be defensible.

It is recognized that self-regulation is, and will continue to be, an evolving process. Undoubtedly adjustments will need to be considered in the legislation where experience and the consumer interest indicate.

Bill 118 was given third reading on December 10, 1980 and became the Registered Insurance Brokers Act. Certain sections of the Act were proclaimed April 1, 1981, so that the Board of RIBO could proceed with authority towards the implementation of "self-regulation" scheduled for October 1, 1981. The balance of the Act, relating to those sections imposing obligations on the former agents and brokers (now all called brokers), was proclaimed as of October 1, 1981, and self-regulation is now in effect.

In all our deliberations, we have endeavoured to keep the consumers’ interest paramount, with the conviction that, in addition to complying with our mandate from the government, what is good for the consumer is, or eventually will be, in the best interest of the intermediaries, the insurers and the government.

RIBO receives many inquiries from principal brokers interested in obtaining information from a broker's file.

November 5, 2001 is Election Day. Every member in good standing is entitled to vote for up to three candidates. You have received a nomination book, including information about each candidate up for election.

Please follow the instructions outlined on the back of the return envelope. All ballots must be received at the RIBO office by 4:00 p.m. on November 5, 2001.