The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario plans sharper oversight of life and health insurance agents in 2026.
The regulator said it will zero in on two fronts: stricter reviews of “rolling bad apples” and a misconduct reporting process that feels more interactive, more transparent.
“Rolling bad apples” is the industry’s slang for life agents who hop between insurers or managing general agents after being cut loose. FSRA flagged the practice as a big headache for oversight, accountability, and frankly, trust.
According to our analysts, FSRA will track the movements of more than 200 life agents next year, all of them flagged through the misconduct report program since 2023.
When a misconduct report lands, the regulator said it will contact every insurer tied to the agent, past and present, to gather details before making a call.
The regulator stressed that tougher scrutiny helps confirm whether agents remain suitable to carry on business. At the same time, FSRA said it wants more back-and-forth with insurers and filers during the early stages of misconduct cases. The point: clear up details fast, provide guidance, avoid sloppy filings.
Transparency stands as another pillar of the 2026 plan. FSRA said it will post more regular updates on timelines and the status of misconduct reviews.
It also committed to publish an annual supervision plan, bulk up information in supervision reports, and even pilot meetings with misconduct filers to review outcomes.
Filers will also get more direct feedback, something companies have asked for repeatedly.
While rolling out the preview of its 2026 playbook, FSRA also released a snapshot of its 2024–2025 activity. The regulator said it evaluated 163 life agents and ran 77 examinations.
According to FSRA data, 87% of those examinations started because the agent was tagged high risk due to a misconduct report. Referrals from other FSRA divisions triggered the other 13%.
The total number of examinations dropped 16% compared to 2023–2024. That earlier cycle saw a wave of misconduct reports, forcing FSRA to push carriers to keep a closer eye on intermediates.
Even so, FSRA still caught widespread missteps: agents selling products that didn’t fit consumer needs, agents failing to show product illustrations, agents ignoring best practices outright. The regulator said these findings should serve as a warning sign for carriers.
Companies, it argued, need to re-check their internal oversight to prevent the same behavior from repeating.
Protecting consumers is our top priority and this supervision plan is a critical step towards improving the way we do that
Erica Hiemstra, head of insurance conduct at FSRA
“But we can’t do that alone. We expect industry participants to strengthen oversight, improve reporting accuracy and properly train and monitor agents,” said Erica Hiemstra, head of insurance conduct at FSRA.
