On occasion, the ICM receives inquiries about Council’s interpretation of section 391 of The Insurance Act (the “Act”), which deals with how licensed agents or adjusters may hold themselves out to the public. Section 391 of The Insurance Act says:
"Holding Out 391
Any person who, not being duly licensed as an agent, a broker, or an adjuster, represents or holds himself out to the public as being an agent, broker, or adjuster, or as being engaged in the insurance business, by means of advertisements, cards, circulars, letterheads, signs or other methods, or being duly licensed as such an agent, broker, or adjuster, advertises as aforesaid or carries on such a business in any other name than that stated in the licence, is guilty of an offence."
Essentially, there are three broad aspects to holding out obligations under section 391:
1. Any unlicensed person must not present themselves (hold out) as an agent/adjuster to members of the public. For example, a former licensee must not hold out as an agent/adjuster if their licence has lapsed, expired, been suspended, or has been cancelled; this includes all aspects of carrying on the activities of an agent/adjuster, including giving advice.
2. Advertising is also captured by section 391. If a person is no longer licensed, they must not hold out as an agent/adjuster through advertising to members of the public. Social media ought to be amended to reflect their status as a former agent/adjuster to eliminate confusion with members of the public as to their licensing status.
3. If duly licensed, any agent/adjuster who presents themselves as representing an agency or adjusting firm for which they are not licensed is guilty of an offence.
Therefore, in all advertisements, cards, letterheads, signs, or other methods, an agent/adjuster must clearly identify the agency’s or adjusting firm’s legal and/or trade name(s) as specified on their licence(s) as issued by the ICM. Use of an agency or adjusting firm name for which the agent/adjuster is not licensed would be a violation of section 391.
If agents/adjusters wish to begin using a new name different than that listed on their current licence(s), they may then need to either amend their current licence(s) to include the new name, or apply for a supplementary licence under that new name. This could allow the agent/adjuster to hold themselves out under all of the desired names.
IMPORTANT CHANGES - E&O INSURANCE REPORTING - General Agents and Adjusters
IMPORTANT CHANGES - E&O INSURANCE REPORTING - Life, A&S, or Hail Agents and Restricted Insurance Agents (RIA)
IMPORTANT CHANGES - E&O INSURANCE REPORTING - General Operating Agents and Adjusting Firm Designated Representatives
The exam process is separate from the licence application process. The exam registrant will focus on meeting the educational standard by passing pre-requisite examinations, one of several requirements in the licensing process.
If an applicant has completed more than one LLQP Certificate, they must successfully complete all examinations within the first certificate they have entered/registered online before registering for the examinations pertaining to the additional LLQP Certificate(s). Example: John Smith has completed "A&S Common Law" and "Top Up from A&S" and enters the "A&S Common Law" certificate first. He must then successfully complete the exams tied to the "A&S Common Law" certificate before registering for the exams tied to the "Top Up from A&S".
The exam registrant has 12 months from the “Certification Date”, as confirmed on CIPR, to write and pass all of the required Harmonized LLQP examination modules. If the registrant has not completed all of the modules within that 12 month period, the registrant must re-certify.
Once the exam registrant is certified, he or she has 12 months from the date the first Harmonized LLQP examination module was passed to apply for a licence in Manitoba, as outlined in Section 2 of Regulation 389/87.
Example: Jane Smith has a Certification Date of April 1, 2017. She has until April 1, 2018 to write and pass all of the required modules. From there, she has 1 year (12 months) from the date of passing the first examination module to apply for her licence with the ICM office as outlined in the Regulation.
EXAMINATION RULES: Rules for the LLQP Examination
Requirements to register for the exam(s):
A User Guide has been developed to assist with the registration of examinations.
1. Completion of Pre-Qualifying Harmonized LLQP examination(s): The registrant must have completed the pre-qualifying harmonized LLQP course and examination(s) with the Approved Provincial Course Provider prior to scheduling the provincial LLQP examination(s) with the ICM office.
2. The registrant will complete and submit the Examination Registration Form completed online with the ICM.
3. Exam Fees for Exam Writes: The $110.00 non-refundable exam sitting fee will be paid online via credit card (Visa or MasterCard only) when registering for the exam module(s). If you do not have a credit card, you must ensure you are registered on the ICM system and have a valid User ID before submitting the payment in the form of cash, money order, company cheque or certified personal cheque to the ICM. Credit card or debit payment is not available in the ICM office. For the first attempt, an exam sitting is defined as all modules and the $110.00 fee is paid once even if initial modules are written on separate days. For rewrites, the $110.00 fee is to be paid per calendar day, which could encompass one module or multiple modules.
4. Copy of Photo ID: A copy of government issued photo ID is required to be submitted with the exam registration form. This same ID must be brought to the exam location the morning of the examination, and provided when requested to the exam registrar. The registrant’s name in CIPR (Canadian Insurance Participant Registry) must match the ID provided to the ICM. If the name does not match, the registrant will not be permitted to schedule or sit the exam.
Exam Schedule: Examinations are written at the ICM office typically twice a week (additional days are accommodated as needed). The ICM office is located at 466 – 167 Lombard Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Open Examination Sitting Schedule for in-person examinations
Cancellation Notice for In-Person Exam Writes:
Cancellation of an exam can occur at least one business day prior to the exam. (For example, if your exam is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., you can reschedule before 9:00 a.m. on Monday.) The exam fee is non-refundable. However, if sufficient notice of one business day is provided, the fee can be applied to your next exam booking. An applicant is allowed to cancel and reschedule their first set of examinations one time only within at least one business day prior to the exam. An applicant is allowed to cancel and reschedule one re-write examination only one time within at least one business day prior to the exam. No further allowances will be made to reschedule an examination. Any further rescheduling will require payment of the examination fee again. (For example, Joe Smith failed his first life insurance exam on Apr 9/20. He rescheduled it for May 9/20, but decided to cancel this sitting on May 1/20. He then rescheduled it for May 29/20 at no additional cost. However, he decided to cancel this sitting as well. Joe then rescheduled for June 15/20 and had to pay another examination fee for this sitting.)
No refunds, cancellations or rescheduling of exams are permitted through Durham College.
Rewrite Rules:
- Students can write the new exam 3 times before there is any waiting period.
- There will be a waiting period of 3 months after the third attempt (measured from the date of the 3rd attempt).
- There will be a waiting period of 3 months after the fourth attempt (measured from the date of the 4th attempt).
- There will be a waiting period of 6 months after any subsequent attempt (measured from the date of the latest attempt).
Notification of Exam Results:
Examination results are valid for twelve (12) months and are posted in the online portal within 10 business days. Results will not be communicated by email or phone.
Successful completion of the exam is only one of the licensing requirements. To proceed with a licence application, view the information on the ICM website under “Licensing Info”. Until a licence has been issued you cannot act, offer to act, or hold out as an agent. Further, if a licence is not issued within 12 months from successfully passing the first examination module, you will be subject to requalification of the educational component prior to the review of an application for a licence.
Important Information is outlined in the below documents:
Harmonized LLQP Examination Registration - Online Application Form
Registrant's Information Sheet for Exams
Rules for the In-Person LLQP Examination
