Bankers urging government to ease insurer restrictions on branches

Current insurer restrictions state that Canadian Banks cannot solicit insurance customers in bank branches but, in a recent position statement , Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) CEO Raymond Protti says Canada should ease restrictions on banks selling insurance so they can compete better with insurers. In its 2001 review of the banking industry, the government judged that lenders can buy smaller insurance companies but they can’t sell insurance products at branches. In order to bypass these rules, Royal Bank one of Canada’s largest lenders recently began selling insurance through offices adjacent to its branches. “In the interests of competition, fairness and good old- fashioned common sense, the Canadian Bankers Association will be urging Ottawa to include these reforms in the new Bank Act next year,” Protti states in his speech made at the Economic Club of Toronto.The association is requesting that the government allow CBA members to display brochures and provide other information in branches. Protti says the association will urge the government to include those reforms in the next industry review.