In late 2008, OSFI began the process of revising Advisory 2007-01 - Insurance in Canada of Risks largely as a result of requests from stakeholders to make it easier to use and to provide more certainty around OSFI’s interpretation and application of the concept “insuring in Canada a risk”.  This process has led to the recent posting of Advisory 2007-01-R1 - Insurance in Canada of Risks. 

Among the revisions, a new paragraph was added to clarify that the Advisory may also be used to determine whether a foreign insurer is issuing annuities in Canada and or is issuing policies of endowment insurance in Canada.

As well, the definition of “agent” has been deleted to avoid confusion with an “insurance agent” under provincial laws, as the two may not have the same legal status in regards to a foreign insurer.

The definition of “policy” was also deleted, with “insurance coverage” generally used instead.

In response to requests for more clarity and certainty around OSFI’s interpretation and applications of the concept “insuring in Canada a risk”, the indicia to determine whether a risk has been insured in Canada have been revised to focus on the location of the foreign insurer’s operations. Also, all the indicia are now contained in one paragraph, rather than four subparagraphs as was the case in the Initial Advisory.

The advisory also contains guidance on how the changes to Part XIII cohere with the shared jurisdiction of the federal and provincial governments over foreign insurers.

A complete list of the changes is available on OSFI’s website at www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca.