What’s changing on January 1, 2027, and how ILScorp is building a training program to meet it.
If your business sells insurance as part of how you serve customers, credit protection on a vehicle loan, a warranty on construction equipment, travel coverage at the point of booking, the rules are about to change.
Starting January 1, 2027, British Columbia’s new Restricted Insurance Agent Licence Regulation takes effect. The Insurance Council of BC will begin accepting training course accreditation submissions in July 2026, and licence applications from businesses in November 2026. For many businesses that have offered insurance incidentally to their main products or services, this is the first time formal licensing, training, and oversight requirements will apply.
We’ve been following this closely. Here’s what’s coming, and what ILScorp is doing about it.
What’s actually changing
For years, businesses in industries like motor vehicle sales, travel, and equipment dealing have been able to offer specific insurance products to their customers without holding an insurance licence. That exemption is ending.
Under the new framework, businesses that sell eligible insurance products must:
- Hold a Restricted Insurance Agency (RIA) Licence issued by the Insurance Council of BC
- Appoint a Designated Representative — an officer, director, or partner of the agency — who oversees regulatory compliance and serves as the Council’s primary contact. The Designated Representative must complete a specialized course administered by the Council itself.
- Hold Errors and Omissions insurance
- Have at least one contract with an insurer authorized to operate in BC
- Ensure every employee offering insurance has completed accredited training specific to the products they sell
That last point is the one most businesses underestimate. It isn’t enough for the business to hold the licence. Every person who explains a product, processes an application, or answers a customer question about coverage needs proper training.
This brings BC in line with restricted licensing regimes already in place in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick — but it represents a significant operational shift for businesses that have never had to think about licensing before.
Who this applies to
The framework covers eleven product classes across eight industry contexts. If you operate in any of these spaces, you’ll need to be ready:
| Industry | Eligible Insurance Products |
|---|---|
| Motor vehicle dealers | Credit protection, GAP, vehicle warranty |
| Construction & farm equipment dealers | Credit protection, equipment warranty |
| Travel agents and wholesalers | Travel insurance |
| Electronics vendors | Portable electronics insurance |
| Mortgage brokers | Credit protection insurance |
| Rental agencies | Rented vehicle insurance |
| Funeral providers | Funeral services insurance |
| Cargo, customs brokers, freight forwarders | Cargo and transportation-related insurance |
If your business model includes any of these products as an add-on to your main offering, the new licensing requirement will apply to you.
What the training has to cover
The Insurance Council has set out Performance Requirements that any accredited training course must meet. These are organized into three core competency areas:
- Knowledge of Insurance. Foundational concepts and terminology, plus a working understanding of the specific products being sold.
- Technical Abilities. The practical skills involved in product sales, processing, and servicing — along with the legal and regulatory rules that govern those activities.
- Business Skills. Professional conduct and ethics, errors and omissions, and information management and record-keeping.
In other words: your team needs to know what they’re selling, how to sell it correctly, and how to do so ethically and within the rules. The training isn’t optional, and it isn’t a one-time formality — it’s the regulatory foundation for every customer conversation.
How ILScorp is building its RIA Training Program
We’ve spent the past several months developing a comprehensive RIA Training Program specifically for the BC market. Here’s how it’s structured:
Six core modules that map directly to the Insurance Council’s three competency areas:
- The RIA Framework — context, regulatory authority, and licensee responsibilities
- Insurance Fundamentals — concepts, terminology, and how insurance products work
- Sales, Explaining & Processing — the technical mechanics of an insurance transaction
- Compliance & Disclosure — what must be disclosed, when, and how it’s documented
- Ethics & Customer Protection — professional conduct and the customer-first standard
- Integrated Customer Conversations — applied scenarios that pull the previous five together
Around these core modules, the program covers eleven product classes and eight industry contexts, so a representative at a construction equipment dealership learns the same regulatory foundation as a travel agent, but with industry-specific scenarios that match the work they actually do.
The program is modular and scalable, so businesses can train representatives on only the products and contexts relevant to their operation. A funeral provider doesn’t need the rental vehicle module. A mortgage broker doesn’t need portable electronics.
You can see the full program overview, including industry-specific coverage and current accreditation status, on our RIA Training Program page.
A note on accreditation timing
We want to be transparent about where the program sits in the process.
Under the framework, training courses must be accredited by the Insurance Council of BC. There are two important dates to keep separate:
- July 2026 — the Council opens its training accreditation submission process. Course providers can begin submitting programs for review.
- November 2026 — the Council begins accepting licence applications from businesses.
ILScorp’s RIA Training Program has been developed to align with the Council’s published Performance Requirements. We are preparing to submit our program for accreditation as soon as the Council’s review process opens in July.
We’re not claiming accreditation we don’t yet have. What we are doing is building the program now, against the Council’s published standards, so that we’re ready the moment submissions open — and so our customers have an accredited training option available well before the licensing requirement takes effect.
What you can do now
- Identify your Designated Representative. This person needs to be an officer, director, or partner, and will need to complete a separate Council-administered course. Knowing who this is now saves time later.
- Inventory your insurance products. Which of the eleven eligible classes does your business actually sell? That determines which training modules your team will need.
- List the people who need training. Anyone who explains, sells, or processes an insurance product on behalf of the business will need accredited training before January 1, 2027.
- Get on the ILScorp RIA update list. Sign up on our RIA Training Program page to be the first to know when our program is accredited, when enrolment opens, and what it costs.
Stay informed
We’ve built a dedicated RIA Training Program page with everything in one place: the full timeline, the industries and product classes covered, our program structure, and live updates on accreditation status.
It’s also where you can join the update list. The people on that list will be the first to know when our program is accredited by the Insurance Council, when enrolment opens, and what it costs — ahead of any public announcement.
We’ve spent decades helping the BC insurance industry meet its training and compliance obligations. The RIA framework is new, but the work — making sure professionals are properly trained so customers are properly served — is exactly what we’ve always done.
We’ll be ready. And we’ll help you be ready too.
Have Questions?
Have questions about the new RIA framework or how it applies to your business? Visit our RIA Training Program page or reach out at info@ilscorp.com.
