Brokers supporting CCIR principles, but not with tools, regulators find

All or most of Canadas national and provincial broker associations support the principles contained in the industry regulators report, Managing Conflicts of Interest: A Consultation Paper on Enhancing and Harmonizing, but in many cases less than half of the brokers associations are backing up such support with concrete tools.The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) and the Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO) drew these conclusions in their March 2007 Report on the Action of IPRC [Industry Practices Review Committee] Principles by Industry Associations.The IPRC is a committee of the CCIR. In February 2006, the IPRC presented a draft consultation paper, which recommends that the industry conform to the following three principles: Priority of the clients interest; Disclosure of conflict or potential conflict of interest; and Product suitability. In its most recent report, the IPRC found that although 11 industry associations are supporting [the] principle [of priority of the clients interest], not all associations have implemented sufficient documentary guidance showing support for all elements of this principle.Similarly, the IPRC found, all 11industry associations support this principle of disclosure of conflicts, but only five are supporting substantially all elements of this principle with tools. The other six industry associations are supporting this principle, but they have yet to implement tools.As for the third principle, product suitability, only one industry association supports substantially all elements of this principle with tools, the IPRC found. One industry association does not support this principle. The other nine industry associations are supporting this principle with no supporting tools.Overall, the CCIR reported on behalf of its IPRC committee, while the results indicate general support for all three principles, there still remains work to be done to ensure the implementation of the principles by the associations. In the summer of 2007, the IPRC plans to continue to monitor the implementation of the IPRC principles in the marketplace.