FSCO launches enforcement and monitoring online tool

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has launched a new online tool, ‘Monitoring and Enforcements [M&E] Online,’ where statistics from the different sectors FSCO oversees are posted.”M&E Online reports on FSCO’s prosecution activities, the decisions arising out of the hearings FSCO conducts, and other regulatory activities that help ensure consumer confidence in the financial services sectors that FSCO regulates” including insurance, the site says.Broken down by financial quarters and sectors, users can click to gain a sense of FSCO’s activities. In the insurance sector, FSCO is monitoring 34 complaints against insurance agents from 2007 Q3 and 342 errors and omissions audits during the same time frame.Details are posted on the one cease-and-desist order against an insurance company, six enforcements against agents and one enforcement against a SABS representative/paralegal issued during 2007 Q3. The site also contains information on its dispute resolution services, noting that only one special award was granted in 2007 Q3, against Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company.”Wawanesa’s decision to terminate [a policyholder’s] income replacement benefits on WAD II limitation was unreasonable,” FSCO’s site notes. “Wawanesa turned a blind eye to Ms. Sun’s psychological impairment and ignored strong medical evidence, including a designated assessment centre and its own insurer’s examination.”The site notes the award’s amount has yet to be determined. The site can be found at: http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/english/licensing/mebonline/default.asp.