Alberta seeks to further bolster insurance sector with new legislation

Alberta’s Insurance Amendment Act 2022 passed its first reading in the state’s Legislative Assembly yesterday.

If passed,  Bill 16 will see Alberta become the first Canadian jurisdiction to allow licensed provincial insurance companies to focus solely on reinsurance business and use limited partnerships for boosting their capital needs.

The bill supports the Captive Insurance Companies Act  passed last year, when Alberta became only the second Canadian province after British Columbia to legalise captives. An amendment to the captives act will ease the relocation of foreign captives to Alberta.

“Alberta is creating opportunities in every sector of our rapidly growing economy,” Alberta finance minister and president of the Treasury Board Travis Toews told reporters.

“To this end, we’re delivering a regulatory framework that will help generate more insurance activity right here in Alberta – leading to more opportunities for Albertans in sophisticated finance and insurance positions and boosting the investment potential of our entire financial services sector.”

The chair of the Volunteer Reinsurance Taskforce, Jason Montemurro, said: [T]he combination of the Captive Insurance Companies Act and updates to the Insurance Act will allow local businesses and not-for-profit organisations, alongside similar entities internationally, to access Alberta based reinsurance capacity that is needed, will be competitive globally, and will build a vibrant world-class insurance/reinsurance industry in our province.”

Passed in December 2021, the Captive Insurance Companies Act is expected to come into force this summer.