Superintendent of Insurance

Study guide: Exam 6C

A Superintendent of Insurance is the provincial official who licenses insurers, agents and adjusters to operate in a province, supervises market conduct, and administers the provincial Insurance Act. The federal counterpart is the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), who supervises solvency — the two roles are distinct and both apply to the same insurer.

• Every province has such an office, though the modern name varies: FSRA in Ontario, the AMF in Quebec, the Alberta Superintendent of Insurance, BCFSA in British Columbia.
• Core powers: issue and revoke the licence that lets an insurer write in the province; approve or refuse rate filings where the province regulates rates; investigate unfair practices; set the benefit and coverage terms prescribed by regulation; and enforce agent and adjuster licensing.
• Provincially incorporated insurers are also prudentially supervised by their province, so in that case the Superintendent does the job OSFI does federally, usually applying the MCT guideline by adoption rather than writing a separate capital rule.
• A licence to write in a province is required per province, so a national insurer holds a federal order to commence and carry on business plus a licence from every jurisdiction it operates in — the practical source of Canada's multi-jurisdiction compliance burden.
• Superintendents coordinate through the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators, which produces harmonised positions but has no power of its own; each Superintendent must adopt them separately.

One Insurer, Many Regulators A federally incorporated insurer wants to begin writing personal property insurance in three new provinces next year. What approvals does it need, and from whom?

Answer

• OSFI: no new approval to enter a province as such, but the expansion is a change in business plan that feeds capital adequacy and would be discussed with the supervisory team; the ORSA should reflect the new exposure.
• Each provincial Superintendent: a licence for that province, before a single policy is written.
• Rate and form filings: for personal property, most provinces do not pre-approve rates the way they do for auto, but the forms and endorsements may still need filing. The insurer must check each province separately — there is no national filing.

Because the insurer now has catastrophe exposure in three new territories, the earthquake and concentration implications are a separate OSFI question, and the Appointed Actuary should reflect the new exposure in the next FCT report.