Regulator fines unlicensed insurance agent $25,000

Ontario’s financial services regulator has issued a $25,000 penalty against an unlicensed agent and ordered him to stop conducting insurance business in the province.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) fined Andi Efovia $15,000 for acting as an insurance agent while not being duly licensed and $10,000 for representing himself and/or holding himself out to the public as an insurance agent while not being duly licensed.

FSRA also ordered him to “cease and desist from conducting insurance business in the province of Ontario, including advertising, soliciting, offering, selling and adjusting auto insurance…,” the regulator says in its final order, issued Feb. 9.

Efovia did not request a hearing before the Financial Services Tribunal or contest FSRA’s Notice of Proposal (NOP), FSRA adds in a Feb. 19 press release.

The case began in January and February 2024, when the regulator received complaints from Co-operators General Insurance Company and TD Insurance (TDI) alleging that Efovia:

• Applied for approximately 89 auto insurance policies on behalf of consumers in 2022 and 2023
• Provided false and/or misleading information when applying for the auto insurance policies, resulting in lower premiums for applicants
• Impersonated consumers or represented himself as a friend or translator while arranging auto insurance policies for consumers
• Held himself out as an insurance agent on social media (YouTube).

As part of its investigation, FSRA examined information and documents related to 10 policies written by Co-operators and seven policies written by TDI. The regulator identified numerous policy “discrepancies and false information,” including false contact information (Efovia’s own email addresses and phone number), payment information (his spouse’s credit card) and policyholders paying $250 to $2,000 for the arrangement of their policies.

Efovia is not, and has never been, licensed as an insurance agent under the Insurance Act or as a broker under the Registered Insurance Brokers Act, FRSA says.

Systematic unlicensed activity

“Efovia’s unlicensed activity was conducted systematically and repeatedly over a sustained period of time,” FSRA writes in the NOP. “Efovia advertised his unlicensed insurance agent services on social media and held himself out as an insurance agent to the public.”

FSRA says its compliance order is “appropriate to protect the public, insurers, and maintain confidence in the regulatory regime under the [Insurance] Act.”

In imposing its $25,000 administrative penalty, FSRA’s director of litigation and enforcement pointed to several factors, including the repeated behaviour, the degree of harm, the risk of incorrect premiums and its effect on other consumers, and harm to the public interest.

“The affected consumers were deceived into relying on an unlicensed person to arrange their insurance and paid a fee for doing so,” the NOP notes. “Being unlicensed, Efovia had no regulatory oversight or E&O insurance and arranged insurance by using deceptive means.

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“The insurance coverage of the consumers who had acquired insurance through Efovia were cancelled or had the potential to be cancelled or denied, putting the consumers, other members of the public, and other insurers at risk of financial harm.”

FSRA says Efovia also “appeared to have earned at least $9,000 as service fees for applying and arranging insurance for consumers.”

He also took no steps to remedy or mitigate the identified contraventions and declined to cooperate with FSRA’s investigation, the regulator says.

Jason Contant

Jason has been an award-winning journalist with Canadian Underwriter for more than a decade, including the past three years as associate editor and, before that, as digital editor for seven years.