One hundred years ago this year, four provincial insurance regulators gathered in Calgary to discuss ways to promote compatibility in the laws governing insurance contracts – a gathering that gave birth to the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR).
To mark the anniversary, regulators from across Canada came together in Fredericton, N.B. to unveil a new strategic plan.
“Today's CCIR is focused on improving the insurance regulatory and supervisory system in Canada,” says CCIR chair Carolyn Rogers, “to make it more efficient and effective in serving the public interest.”
From that meeting, the CCIR established three strategic priorities, one priority each focused on consumers, regulators, and industry:
• Align supervision with international best practices to enhance consumer protection;
• Work collaboratively with regulatory partners to grow and leverage national regulatory capacity; and
• Partner with industry stakeholders to identify opportunities to reduce inter‐jurisdictional barriers.
The full strategic plan can be viewed
here.
“We're proud of our accomplishments over the last 100 years,” says Rogers, “and we're looking forward to new opportunities to protect consumers and build confidence in our insurance sector.” (continued.)
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Some of the upcoming initiatives for the CCIR include working with the Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organization (CISRO) to launch the Canadian Insurance Regulators Disciplinary Actions (CIRDA) database.
“This database will improve consumer protection through a one stop website” says Rogers, “where consumers can determine whether an insurance agent or broker has been disciplined in their locality or in other provinces or territories.”
The CCIR will also be undertaking a review of travel insurance to ensure that consumers understand their coverage and that they are treated fairly at the time of a claim, she says, and “building on the initial review and report on electronic commerce, conducting further inquiries into this rapidly changing technology to ensure that consumers are protected.”
