The Insurance Institute of Canada is a professional, not-for-profit organization with its roots dating back to 1899. It was created for the purpose of providing professional development for men and women employed in the Canadian property and casualty insurance industry.
Contents
- Membership
- Mandate
- Professional Development and Designations
- Chartered Insurance Professional CIP Designation
- CIP Applied Professional Courses
- Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional FCIP Program
- FCIP Courses
- Networking and Career Development
- Activities
- Standards
- Corporate Governance
- Involvement in the Insurance Community
- Institute History
- References
Based in Toronto, Canada, The Insurance Institute of Canada is the umbrella organization for a network of 19 institutes and chapters across Canada. It is connected globally with like institutes around the world through the Institute for Global Insurance Education.
It is a professional educator, examining body and publishing house. It develops and administers licensing exams, and it represents every employment sector of the property & casualty insurance business – including insurers, reinsurers, underwriters, brokers, independent adjusters, plus others in related financial services.
The Insurance Institute offers two formal designation programs for insurance professionals, including the Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) and the Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP). These designations serve as qualification for employment and promotional opportunities required by many industry employers.
The Insurance Institutes, at both the national and local level, work with provincial and territorial regulators to align educational offerings with regulatory licensing regimes.
To promote personal and career development, the institutes and chapters organize networking opportunities in addition to events and seminars.
Membership
Membership in the Insurance Institute of Canada is made up of a variety of types of people and currently stands in excess of 39,000. Members can be students or graduates of the CIP or FCIP designation programs, or they can be regular members engaged in other forms of professional development such as certificate programs.
Mandate
The Insurance Institute offers programs in each of the following three areas – Professional Development and Designations, Networking and Career Development, and Insights and Resources.
Professional Development and Designations
Professional development and designation programs can be divided into four distinct areas: professional designations, certificate programs, insurance licensing & continuing education (CE) credits and professional development. A brief summary of each area is as follows:
Professional development includes formal education programs leading to CIP and FCIP designations via classroom, distance and web-based learning. The Insurance Institute has an active student body of approximately 20,000 people. In partnership with several community colleges and universities across Canada, its CIP program is used to educate full-time students whose studies include property and casualty insurance.
Licensing and continuing education (CE) credits are offered to insurance agents and brokers, independent claims adjusters and life agents.
These programs include non-designation courses and seminars, both In-class and virtual. They deal with subject areas such as insurance and technical knowledge, business and management, as well as interpersonal and communications skills.
Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) Designation
The Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) Program provides general and technical knowledge specific to the Canadian property and casualty (p&c) insurance industry, leading to a CIP designation. Designations represent the national standard for professionalism, technical expertise and leadership in the p&c insurance sector.
The CIP designation is a starting point for many insurance careers. Unique to the Insurance Institute, it is a uniform standard indicating that all CIPs have met the same test of knowledge.
The CIP Program provides skills and knowledge related to several available career paths, including insurance broker or agent, underwriter, adjuster or risk manager.
The CIP Program consists of approximately 30 courses, 10 of which are required to satisfy the educational requirements of the designation. Of these 10:
There is a one-year industry experience requirement to graduate.
CIP Applied Professional Courses
CIP Applied Professional Courses are intended to give students an opportunity to shape their learning according to specific career interests. Specific areas of focus include underwriters, adjusters or broker/agents.
Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) Program
The Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) Program is a designation program tailored to Canada’s property and casualty (p&c) insurance industry.
The Insurance Institute of Canada established the FCIP curriculum dating back to the 1950s. During the late 1970s, the program was revised by approving a set of university based subjects for the program. FCIP candidates then took any of these approved courses, which were offered primarily through the continuing education departments of universities.
The FCIP Program was re-launched in 2010. The current FCIP program includes six courses, developed at a post-degree level, that are tailored specifically to the Canadian p&c sector. The original-track FCIP is no longer accepting entries and is scheduled to close in 2017.
The Insurance Institute developed the current FCIP in collaboration with senior industry executives and academics from business schools across the country. The virtual program is designed to provide a comprehensive, insurance-focused understanding of strategic leadership and advanced management techniques, leading to the FCIP designation.
More than 3,500 people across Canada hold an FCIP, FIIC, FPAA or FIAC designation.
FCIP Courses
The FCIP Program follows a progression of the following six courses, which are taken sequentially as listed below, starting with F510 and concluding with F560.
Networking and Career Development
The Insurance Institute offers networking and career development programs.
The CIP Society provides for the professional needs of more than 17,000 graduates of the CIP and FCIP programs. The division provides networking and social programs for CIP Society members.
Career Connections maintains an insurance presence in secondary and post-secondary schools, educating young adults about the fundamental concepts of insurance and career opportunities available in the p&c insurance industry.
Activities
The Insurance Institute’s activities are administered by three separate divisions – The Academic Division, Graduate Division and Career Connections.
Standards
All Insurance Institute courses and programs are designed to meet high standards. Graduates abide by a Code of Ethics designed to maintain professional practice and conduct. As a designation-granting institution, the Insurance Institute holds qualifying examinations and elects graduates as CIPs and FCIPs.
Corporate Governance
The Insurance Institute Board of Governors meets once annually to receive reports, address policy issues and approve finances for the organization. It includes executives from major insurance employers across Canada together with representatives of local institute councils. Board members are elected to represent members of local institutes and chapters, as well as senior industry leadership.
The Executive Committee is the senior decision-making body within the Board of Governors. It also oversees its four sub-committees (Finance, Nominations, Pension and Compensation).
Involvement in the Insurance Community
The Insurance Institute relies heavily on its strong network of volunteers across the country. Volunteers play an integral role in the support, development and execution of Institute initiatives and activities throughout the year. The Insurance Institute is a platinum sponsor of the National Insurance Conference of Canada. Other philanthropic commitments include: the Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade event, Toronto Insurance Women’s Association and the Canadian Association of Insurance Women.
National Education Week, which the Insurance Institute created in 2009, raises awareness among members and celebrates education within the Canadian insurance industry. Normally held the last week of February, special events, seminars and networking opportunities take place within each institute and chapter, often organized with national subscribing companies.
Institute History
1899 – John B. Laidlaw, manager of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society in Canada, made the call to fellow insurance managers in the country to create an insurance institute in Canada along the lines of institutes being formed in Great Britain in the late 1870s. Two hundred and thirty industry representatives responded, giving birth to the Insurance Institute of Toronto.
1900 – The Insurance Institute of Montreal formed.
1920s – The Insurance Institute of British Columbia and the Insurance Institute of Winnipeg were established.
1931 – President of the Insurance Institute of Toronto, W.H. Burgess, first raised the idea of a national institute.
1947 – The Insurance Institute of Toronto became the Insurance Institute of Ontario.
1952 – All institutes joined in association with The Insurance Institute of Canada to establish a uniform standard of insurance education and examinations. The first president of the Insurance Institute, Norman G. Bethune, outlined the following three major objectives for the organization in the President’s Address to The First Annual Meeting of the Insurance Institute of Canada:
As initially stated in the resolutions establishing The Insurance Institute of Canada, the purpose of the organization was “to co-operate with all organisations, both insurance and educational, in the interests of insurance education, all to the end that the service of the business to the insuring public and to Canada generally will be maintained and enhanced, and the efficiency, progress and general development of the business will be promoted.” A contemporary example of co-operating with other industry organizations to further insurance education can be found on the website of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), a trade organization for Canada’s home, auto and business insurers.
1998 – The CIP Society was officially sanctioned and the new designations were approved.
2002 – 50th anniversary celebration for the Insurance Institute.
2013 – The Insurance Institute continues to set the syllabus of p&c insurance studies, produces the appropriate Canadian texts, conducts distance-learning courses, holds national examinations and elects graduates.