Rule on Professional Qualification Requirements for Insurance Companies, Brokers, Agents and Agencies

Summary

This is a CIMA Rule setting minimum professional qualification and competence requirements for insurance companies, brokers, agents and agencies operating in or from the Cayman Islands, effective 1 December 2021.

Scope of Application

• Applies to: 'Relevant persons' — sales employees, customer-handling employees, and employees providing advice or product recommendations at insurance companies conducting domestic business, individual insurance agent licensees, and sales/advisory employees of insurance brokers and agencies.
• Excluded from scope: Persons who merely refer or introduce customers without intermediating, or who give incidental/general insurance information as part of another profession.

Key Requirements

• Qualifications: Relevant persons must hold appropriate qualifications (academic insurance qualifications, approved professional qualifications, or completion of a CIMA-approved training programme) matched to the type and seniority of their role.
• Licensee obligation: Licensees must ensure adequate skills, competence and experience among staff.
• Ongoing training: Continued professional training/development requirements apply on an ongoing basis.
• Reporting: Annual reporting to CIMA on relevant persons' qualifications is required.
• Record-keeping: Licensees are subject to record-keeping obligations.
• Non-compliance: Addressed under CIMA's Enforcement Manual and the Insurance Act/Monetary Authority Act.

Key obligations

• Licensees must ensure relevant persons have appropriate qualifications and sufficient relevant experience for their functions (para 6.3-6.5).
• A relevant person must demonstrate competence by, at minimum, successfully completing a CIMA-approved training programme relevant to the type of intermediation carried on (para 6.7).
• Approval of a training programme (to be relied on for demonstrating competence) must be sought from the Authority at least sixty (60) days prior to the expected timeframe for reliance (para 6.8).
• An Insurance Agent representing both a long-term and general insurer must demonstrate competence in both by completing approved training programmes (para 6.10).
• A previously licensed individual insurance agent who has not held a licence for more than two years, relying on in-house training, must demonstrate recent completion of a sponsor training programme prior to reapplying for a licence (para 6.11).
• A relevant person must attain one of the specified appropriate qualifications (academic qualification, approved professional qualification, equivalent qualification, or CIMA-approved training programme completion) (para 6.14).
• At least annually, an insurance company, broker, agent or agency must provide the Authority a full list of all relevant persons with details of their qualifications, experience and duties (para 6.15).
• Relevant persons must complete continued professional training/development on an ongoing basis, at minimum 10 hours annually and 30 hours every two years, and licensees must maintain documentary evidence of this attendance/completion (paras 6.16-6.17).
• As part of licence renewal, a licensee must demonstrate continuing education of relevant persons by submitting a declaration, course provider details, dates, course descriptions, qualifying hours and completion certificates, at the Authority's request or with annual return submissions, whichever is earlier (para 6.22).

Applies to

insurance companies, insurance brokers, insurance agents, insurance agencies, relevant persons (sales employees, customer-handling employees, and advice-providing employees of insurance companies, brokers and agencies)

Deadlines

• 1 December 2021: Effective date on which the Rule comes into force.
• at least sixty (60) days prior to the expected timeframe for reliance: Deadline for seeking Authority approval of a training programme before it can be relied upon to demonstrate competence.
• annually: Insurance companies, brokers, agents and agencies must provide the Authority a full list of all relevant persons with details of qualifications, experience and duties.
• annually / every two years: Relevant persons must complete a minimum of 10 hours of continued professional training/development annually and a minimum of 30 hours every two years.
• at the Authority's request or with annual return submissions, whichever is earlier: Licensee must submit continuing education documentation as part of the licence renewal process.

Related documents

• This document is made under Monetary Authority Law (2020 Revision)