Who regulates insurance where I live?
A different body does it in each province, and the one for the address you live at is the one that governs. In the six provinces where this practice places coverage they are the Autorité des marchés financiers, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, the Alberta Insurance Council, the Insurance Council of Manitoba, the Financial and Consumer Services Commission and the Insurance Council of British Columbia.
What kind of answer this is
- Claim type: Tax or regulatory position
- Jurisdiction: Province dependent
Each of these bodies publishes a free public register. A licensing question about a named individual is answered there rather than by any page on this site.
How it works
Insurance is supervised federally for solvency and provincially for everything a consumer meets. Licensing, conduct rules, complaints and title protection sit with the province, which is why the register to search is the one for your own address. Each register is free and needs only a name.
The cost or the catch
A name on a website is not a licence. Title protection also varies: Quebec and Ontario have it in force, New Brunswick's came into force in 2026 with its transition still running, and Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia have none, so the title may be used there while the licence is still needed. Verify the record, not the description.
Where this answer may not apply
- A licence does not cross a provincial boundary, so a person licensed next door is not licensed for you.
- Personal licensing and firm licensing are separate things and are often described as one. Ask which is being claimed.
- This practice places coverage in six provinces and holds no licence in the others, which the unlicensed provinces page names plainly.
- A life insurance licence is not a securities registration and authorises nothing in that field.
- New Brunswick title protection came into force on 1 January 2026 and gives people already using the titles a transition period, so a title in use there today may still sit inside it.
- Conduct rules govern how a licensed person behaves. They do not reserve a title, so a province with no title protection can still discipline conduct.
What to verify in your own contract
- The licence number of the individual, and the classes it covers, in your own province's register.
- That the register entry is current today rather than at some point in the past.
- The firm's authorisation separately from the individual's, because they are two records.
- That the province on the licence is the province where you live and not where the office sits.
Continue to the full explanation
Prepare the questions for a CPA, a lawyer and an insurance professional.
Sources
- The published registers of the provincial insurance regulators, verified 2026-08-30
- Provincial insurance and title protection legislation, verified 2026-08-30
Accountability and disclosure
- Written by
- José Salloum
- Professional capacity
- Financial security advisor, Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial
- Reviewed by
- Legal, creditor and estate tier, reviewed by qualified counsel before publication
- Jurisdiction
- Province dependent
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30
- Version
- 1.0
- Compensation disclosure
- Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial, may receive insurer paid compensation if a policy is purchased. It takes the form of first year compensation followed by renewal compensation, and the amount varies by insurer, product, age, premium, contract design, riders and the arrangement with the managing general agency. No single figure would describe every contract honestly, and none is published here.
- Report a correction
- Info@ibcfinancial.com. Write without a policy number, medical information or account details.
Last reviewed 2026-08-30. By Jose Salloum, Financial Security Advisor.