History

When the proposed legislation that created the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO) Act was under consideration in 1979 and 1980, some independent insurance consultants then practising in Ontario, submitted a proposal to the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations of Ontario regarding consulting, as defined in the proposed Act.

The initial draft of the RIBO Act bill gave RIBO the responsibility to regulate not only insurance brokers providing insurance to the public, but also independent insurance and risk management consultants. The essence of the independent consultants’ submission was that, since a key element of their mandate included comment on the quality of the client’s insurance and the apparent standard of expertise of the insurance broker, it would not be appropriate for such consultants to be subject to regulation by the same body that regulates insurance brokers.

The minister and government of the time accepted this point. The final draft of the RIBO Act legislation provided, by Regulation, for exemption initially of specifically named consultants. As soon as Risk Management Consultants of Ontario (RMCO) had been incorporated, the Regulation was amended to exempt RMCO members from regulation by RIBO. At present, the Province of Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada that requires Risk Management and Insurance Consultants to be members of either RMCO or RIBO to legally practice