The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has initiated enforcement action against Tejpal Mann and Daniel Tiffin over allegations that the two illegally arranged to transfer insurance clients and split commission.
The two are former licensed life insurance and accident & sickness insurance agents. Tiffin, who has a previous provincial conviction related to securities trading, has separately been accused of participating in an alleged “illegal” life insurance scheme with Gold Standard Group.
In the latest action, the FSRA has levelled an administrative penalty of $50,000 on Tiffin for “contravening the [Insurance] Act and its regulations by acting as an insurance agent without a license.”
Tiffin did not request a hearing in relation to this Notice of Proposal.
The watchdog has also proposed an administrative penalty of $20,000 on Mann, who has requested a hearing before the Financial Services Tribunal, for “directly or indirectly paying or allowing compensation to be paid to a non-licensee.”
According to the regulator’s allegations, Mann and Tiffin’s arrangement to split commissions for Tiffin’s former clients began in March 2021. Tiffin’s license was noted to have expired in 2019.
In a Notice for Proposal, the FSRA claimed that Tiffin, who was formerly licensed as an insurance agent, arranged for some of his former clients to be transferred to Mann, then a licensed insurance agent, in exchange for a portion of Mann’s commissions.
Tiffin then continued to act as the insurance agent and Mann signed the paperwork, the FSRA alleged.
Between March and May 2021, Mann submitted seven change-of-agent-of-record forms to insurer Industrial Alliance (iA) for policies held by four clients who were previously serviced by Tiffin and another individual identified as YJ, the FSRA alleged.
The FSRA also alleged that Mann submitted 15 applications for annuity contracts to iA on behalf Tiffin’s clients.
Tiffin allegedly sought a fee of around 10% to 20% of commissions generated for each application that he supposedly referred to Mann, according to the FSRA.
Mann was paid around $84,612 by iA in commissions relating to Tiffin’s clients, and in total, Mann paid Tiffin about $21,973, the Ontario regulator claimed.
Tiffin is also facing potential regulatory action for engaging in an alleged “illegal” life insurance scheme with another former life insurance agent, Yogender Jain, and Gold Standard Group.
The alleged scheme ran from 2019 to early 2021, as reported by Insurance Business. The FSRA imposed fines totaling $200,000 against Jain and Gold Standard Group; the action against Tiffin in this instance remains ongoing, according to the regulator’s website.
According to the regulator’s allegations, both parties raked in more than $800,000 in commission from the scheme, the majority of which was said to have come from Tiffin’s former clients.
More than 40 clients saw their life insurance policies transferred to another insurer, incurring deferred sales charges of $197,000, the regulator alleged.
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