A former life agent has been sanctioned by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) for his involvement in a scheme designed to continue serving clients after his license expired.
The FSRA imposed a $50,000 penalty on former insurance agent Daniel Tiffin for violating its rules by acting as an unlicensed insurance agent.
According to the regulator, after Tiffin’s license expired in 2019 and Tiffin withdrew its application to renew that license following talks with the FSRA, it transferred some of its clients to another agent – Tejpal Mann – as part of an arrangement to share commissions.
“Tiffin continued to act as an insurance agent and Mann signed the documents,” the FSRA said in the notice.
The FSRA proposed a $20,000 penalty against Mann, saying he violated insurance law by paying compensation to an unlicensed person. Mann requested a hearing to refute the allegations against him, which were not proven.
The regulator made similar allegations against Tiffin earlier this year but requested a hearing on those allegations, which have not been proven. Tiffin did not file a request for a hearing to dispute the latest allegations.
In an earlier case, another life agent, Yogender Jain, had his license revoked and was fined $100,000 after the FSRA alleged that he entered into an agreement that allowed Tiffin to continue providing services to clients after his license expired, and that Jain also he released many of these clients to new, ring-fenced funds, generating large commissions.
According to FSRA allegations in the latest case, Tiffin received nearly $22,000 from Mann, who generated $84,612.51 in commissions from Tiffin’s clients.
The arrangement lasted about two months. In May 2021, after Mann was sued along with Tiffin, Tiffin’s assistant, and his company, “Mann severed communications with Tiffin,” the FSRA said.
That same month, Industrial Alliance (iA) alerted the FSRA to possible misconduct involving Mann and Tiffin and conducted its own investigation. That investigation found “several potential irregularities … after reviewing Mann’s business book, including seven requests to change agent status in Mann’s favor for clients who were previously served by Tiffin and/or (Jain),” the FSRA said. “In addition, iA identified 14 annuity claims where the documents appeared to be in the same handwriting as previous Tiffin documents.”
Most of the commissions generated from customers were ultimately returned by iA to Mann’s managing general agency, Akal Insurance, which “demands money from Allkind Insurance, which in turn sued Mann,” the regulator noted.
Ultimately, the FSRA found that Tiffin violated insurance law and regulation by “intentionally engaging in insurance activities after losing his license,” that he benefited financially from the misconduct, and that the activities caused harm.
“The licensing system for insurance agents… is a critical and necessary element in protecting the public interest,” the FSRA said. “The public has the right to be confident that the licensing system will only allow suitably qualified and licensed agents to source, negotiate and underwrite insurance. By acting as an insurance agent, Tiffin undermined the integrity of the licensing system and, as a result, harmed the public interest.”
