In Spring of 2021, the Insurance Council of BC concluded a thorough consultation process on updates to CE credit requirements. After carefully considering responses from brokers and other industry stakeholders, the ICoBC has decided to implement the proposed BC CE guideline updates presented earlier this year. Changes will take effect on June 1st, 2021.
We wrote about these new CE credit guidelines before and consulted with our students via email but here’s a summary of changes:
- Licensees now need to complete the same number of CE credits regardless of professional designations held or number of years licensed.
- You can carry over 1 years worth of CE into the next licensing year.
- There is no daily limit or maximum number of CE credits you can claim
- Partial credits can be claimed in increments of 15 minutes (15 minutes = 0.25 CE credits)
- You can only take the same CE course for credits once ever 3 years unless the content has changed substantially.
Generally speaking, we agree with these changes and the Insurance Council’s reasoning. These changes ensure a high quality and knowledgeable broker force and are harmonize with the requirements of other provinces.
Here are some other important and helpful changes brought on by the 2021 CE Guideline Update:
- Guidelines on acceptable “Technical Content”
- Online CE recording tool (available by late summer) to help students track certificates. We currently have this feature available through our A&S + Life Insurance CE courses and General Insurance CE courses as well.
- CE course accreditation: To provide more clarity on what courses are eligible, the ICoBC will begin accrediting courses similar to what they do in other provinces already. We fully expect to meet and/or exceed BC’s requirements as we have in other provinces.
All in all, these CE Guideline Updates will be beneficial to brokers.