MINISTER OF FINANCE PROPOSES TIGHTER REGULATION OF INSURANCE PROMOTION BY BANKS
Related Documents:
- Letter from the Minister of Finance to Ms. Nancy Hughes Anthony
- Letter from the Minister of Finance to Mr. Dan Danyluk
- Letter from the Minister of Finance to Mr. Gerald M. Soloway
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced plans to tighten regulations that prohibit the promotion of non-authorized insurance on the web pages of Canadian banks.
“We intend to prevent banks from using their web pages to promote non-authorized insurance products, which is not permitted in their branches,” said Minister Flaherty. “These measures were made necessary by the evolving use of technology by banks.”
In a letter to Canadian financial stakeholders, Minister Flaherty outlined the proposed regime that would apply to the promotion of insurance on the web pages of banks and federally regulated trust and loan companies. This regime would clearly distinguish between authorized insurance products, such as credit and travel-related insurance, and non-authorized products, such as life, property and casualty insurance.
The regime would:
- Prohibit the promotion of, or web links to, non-authorized insurance from all banking web pages.
- Allow only the corporate web page of a bank, where no financial products are promoted, to display links to insurance subsidiaries dealing in non-authorized insurance.
Draft regulations will be pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, giving stakeholders an opportunity to provide comments.
