Insurance And Financial Planning
Insurance applications and forms containing medical information or information on clients’ lifestyles are, without question, documents that contain confidential information of a very private nature that should be protected very carefully. They are subject to specific communication and retention rules shown in the summary table below.
| Advisor working for a firm, other than an insurer, that offers loans and insurance | Advisor working for an insurance firm that doesn’t offer loans | Advisor working for an independent partnership | Independent representative (advisor) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sending an insurance application to an insurer | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Sending a form with medical or lifestyle information to an insurer | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Sending an insurance application to a firm or independent partnership | YES | YES | YES | Not applicable |
| Sending a form with medical or lifestyle information to a firm or independent partnership | NO | YES | YES | Not applicable |
| Retaining an insurance application or a copy of an application in a client file | YES by the firm | YES by the firm | YES by the independent partnership | YES |
| Retaining a form with medical or lifestyle information or a copy of a form in a client file | NO | YES by the firm | YES by the independent partnership | YES |
In Practice
An independent representative (advisor) who collected a client’s personal information (on their health status or lifestyle) to send to the insurer must keep it in the client file only when it is useful and necessary, in particular for offering adequate professional service to the client.
An advisor who works for an insurance firm that doesn’t offer loans or an independent partnership must send the form with personal information and the insurance application to this firm or partnership. They may keep a copy of it only if this is useful and necessary, in particular for offering adequate professional service to the client, unless the firm or partnership in question doesn’t allow them to do so.
An advisor working for a firm that offers loans and insurance must ensure that they:
- send the firm the insurance application only, not the form with medical or lifestyle information
- send the form with medical or lifestyle information directly to the insurer
- have the firm keep the insurance application in the client file, but not a copy of the form with medical or lifestyle information
- not disclose the information brought to their attention to anyone