Insurance Brokers Rules2008
Insurance Brokers Rules2008
Insurance Brokers Rules2008
Commission under the Insurance Act 2005 and is for information purpose only.
Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure its accuracy, the authoritative
version is the one published in the Government Gazette of Mauritius
ARRANGEMENT OF RULES
PART I – PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
2. Interpretation
3. Application of the rules
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PART VIII - MISCELLANEOUS
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INSURANCE (INSURANCE BROKERS) RULES 2008
FSC Rules made by the Financial Services Commission under Section 130 of the
Insurance Act 2005.
PART I - PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
These Rules may be cited as the Insurance (Insurance Brokers) Rules 2008.
2. Interpretation
In these Rules-
(a) the period within which the insurance broker has agreed with the client, in
accordance with Part-II of the First Schedule, to make payments of any
amount due to the insurer under or in relation to a contract of insurance; or
(b) the period within which the insurance broker has agreed with the insurer, in
accordance with rule 8 (4), to make payments of any amount due to the
insurer under or in relation to a contract of insurance; or
(c) 30 days from the date of receipt of payment of premium under the contract of
insurance,
whichever is earlier.
“bank account” means a bank account maintained by an insurance broker under section
73 (2) of the Act;
“broker fee” means any fee, however described, levied by an insurance broker to the
client for the services rendered in arranging or effecting a contract of insurance, but
excludes remuneration;
“broking staff” means any employee of the insurance broker or any other person who is
authorised by the insurance broker to act on its behalf to provide technical advice to any
client of the insurance broker in respect of –
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(a) insurance policies relating to general insurance business or long term
insurance business for which the licence is granted, other than insurance policies
relating to reinsurance business; or
“Commission” has the same meaning as in the Financial Services Act 2007;
“contract of insurance” means an insurance policy to provide policy benefits and includes
a contract that is subsequently cancelled;
“due date of premium” means the date on which premium becomes payable in an
insurance contract in accordance with the contract terms and conditions;
“financial statements” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act 2001;
“FSC Rules” refers to rules made by the Commission under the Act and the Financial
Services Act 2007;
“monies” means any sum received by an insurance broker, including premiums and
claims payments;
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3. Application of the rules
(1) These rules shall apply to insurance and reinsurance brokers and any other person
exercising the functions of an insurance broker including, arranging insurance business
with insurers on behalf of prospective policyholders or acting as a representative of a
policyholder and carrying on reinsurance brokering for an insurer under the Insurance
Act 2005.
(2) These rules are not exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the
provisions of the relevant Acts and regulations made under those Acts or FSC Rules or
guidelines which the Commission may issue from time to time.
(1) The duties of an insurance broker licensed to carry on business as a general insurance
business broker or long term insurance business broker or both shall include the
following:
(a) obtaining detailed information of the client's business and risk management
philosophy;
(b) familiarising himself with the client's business and underwriting information
so that this can be explained to an insurer or any relevant person;
(c) maintaining detailed knowledge of available insurance products, as may be
applicable;
(d) providing detailed knowledge of all the suitable insurance products available
in the market;
(e) rendering advice on appropriate insurance cover and terms;
(f) submitting quotations received from insurer(s) for consideration of a client;
(g) providing requisite underwriting and customer due diligence information as
required by an insurer in assessing the risk to decide pricing terms and
conditions for cover;
(h) advising the client of the exact dates on which the premiums have to be paid
and the implications of not paying the premiums on the due dates in
accordance with the Provisions of Livre Troisième, Titre Douzième, Chapitre
Troisième of the Code Civil Mauricien;
(i) acting promptly on instructions from a client and providing him written
acknowledgements and progress reports;
(j) assisting clients in paying premiums in terms of all the premium payment
options available with the insurers;
(k) providing services related to insurance consultancy and risk management;
(l) assisting in the negotiation of the claims;
(m) maintaining proper records of claims.
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(2) The duties of an insurance broker licensed to carry on business as a general
reinsurance business broker or long term reinsurance business broker or both shall
include the following:
(a) familiarising himself with the client’s business and risk retention philosophy;
(b) maintaining clear records of the insurer’s business to assist the reinsurer(s) or
others;
(c) rendering advice based on technical data on the reinsurance covers available
in the international insurance and the reinsurance markets;
(d) maintaining a database of available reinsurance markets, including solvency
ratings of individual reinsurers;
(e) rendering consultancy and risk management services for reinsurance;
(f) selecting and recommending a reinsurer or a group of reinsurers;
(g) negotiating with a reinsurer on the client’s behalf;
(h) assisting in case of commutation of reinsurance contracts placed with
reinsurer(s);
(i) acting promptly on instructions from clients and providing written
acknowledgements and progress reports;
(j) collecting and remitting premiums and claims within such time as may be
agreed;
(k) assisting in the negotiation and settlement of claims;
(l) maintaining proper records of claims;
(m) exercising due care and diligence at the time of selection of reinsurers and
international insurance brokers having regard to their respective security
rating and establishing respective responsibilities at the time of engaging their
services.
(2) An insurance broker shall, where more than 40 percent of premium concluded in
any financial year is placed with one insurer, immediately notify the Commission, giving
details of all insurance contracts placed with such insurer.
(1) No insurer, insurance agent or insurance salesperson shall acquire or hold shares
or any other significant interest, whether directly or indirectly, including by way of a
subsidiary, associated or parent company or related company, in an insurance broker,
unless approved by the Commission.
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(2) No reinsurer organised under the Laws of Mauritius or any country outside
Mauritius shall acquire or hold shares or any other significant interest, whether directly or
indirectly, including by way of a subsidiary, associated or parent company or related
company, in an insurance broker, unless approved by the Commission.
(3) No insurance broker shall acquire or hold shares, or any other significant interests,
whether directly or indirectly, including by way of a subsidiary, associated or parent
company or other related company, in any insurer, insurance agent or reinsurance
company, unless approved by the Commission.
(4) No person holding shares or any other significant interest whether directly or
indirectly in an insurer, reinsurer, or insurance agent, shall acquire or hold shares or any
other significant interest, whether directly or indirectly, including by way or of a
subsidiary, associated or parent company or related company, in an insurance broker,
unless approved by the Commission.
(5) No insurance broker shall provide its services in relation to an insurance policy
where it would also directly or indirectly or through the services of a subsidiary or
associated or parent or other related company provide reinsurance broking services in
respect of the same insurance policy.
(6) An insurance broker shall not be entitled, when providing its services in relation
to an insurance policy, to act directly or indirectly, or through the services of a subsidiary
or an associated or parent company or any other company as an introducer or agent for a
reinsurance broker or consultant nor receive any form of remuneration whether directly
or indirectly from the reinsurance broker or consultant in respect of any reinsurance
arrangement in connection with the same insurance policy.
(7) For the purpose of this rule, “significant interest” in the whole or part of a
business is held when the person acquiring, holding or establishing the interest obtains
the ability to materially influence the economic behaviour of the business or when the
person holds directly or indirectly 20% or more of the shares, such significant interest
being acquired or established pursuant to purchase of shares, shareholder agreements,
management contracts, and other contractual arrangements involving corporations,
partnerships, joint ventures, combinations thereof and other entities.
(8) Where immediately before the coming into operation of these Rules, a person
held shares or any other significant interest, which he is not allowed to hold under
paragraphs (1), (2) and (3), that person shall take such measures as may be necessary to
ensure compliance with these Rules by 1 January 2011.
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PART IV – FINANCIAL AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS
(1) No insurance broker shall receive, hold, or in any other manner deal with, or be
allowed by an insurer to receive, hold and deal with, premiums payable under an
insurance policy, other than a reinsurance treaty entered into or to be entered into with an
insurer, other than in accordance with these Rules.
(2) An insurance broker shall open and maintain one or more appropriately identified
bank accounts for keeping of premium received and such accounts shall be separate from
any account which the insurance broker may open and maintain for the keeping of its
own funds.
(3) Where the insurance broker is licensed to carry on business as both general insurance
business broker and long term insurance business broker or both long term reinsurance
business broker and general reinsurance business broker, it shall establish and maintain
separate accounts with a bank in respect of each category of business for which it is
licensed.
(4) An insurance broker shall pay into the bank account established under this Part, all
monies received:
(5) An insurance broker who receives payment of premium from a client on behalf of an
insurer and the return of premiums received from the insurer, if any, and who does not
make immediate remittance to insurers and clients of such amounts, shall deposit such
amounts promptly in the bank account established and maintained by the insurance
broker and these accounts shall be held in a fiduciary capacity.
(6) An insurance broker shall remit the premium, less any remuneration to which, by
written consent it is entitled to, to the insurer within the agreed period.
(7) (a) Where the premiums deposited in a bank account have been collected on behalf of
or for one or more insurers, the insurance broker shall maintain records clearly recording
the deposits in, the interest accrued and withdrawals from the account on behalf of each
insurer separately, and prepare a monthly reconciliation of all funds transacted in the
bank accounts.
(b) The insurance broker shall keep copies of all the records and shall furnish to the
insurer copies of the records pertaining to such deposits, interests earned on such deposits
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and withdrawals at the time the premium is remitted in accordance with the terms of the
agreed period or at the time of settlement of account, whichever is earlier.
(8) No insurance broker shall withdraw monies from the bank accounts established
under this Part, without the prior written consent of the Commission.
(9) Paragraph (8) shall not apply to any withdrawal of monies from bank accounts
with respect to:
(b) any payment to the insurance broker itself in so far as it is entitled to receive
remuneration in accordance with paragraph (6);
(c) any payment to or for an insurer in respect of amounts due to the insurer under
or in relation to a contract of insurance; and
(d) any repayment of monies that were paid into the bank accounts in error.
(10) An insurance broker shall not retain any interest or other income which may accrue
from the funds held in accounts maintained in accordance with paragraph (2) and (3) and
such interest or other income shall be paid to the insurer at the time the premium is
remitted in accordance with the terms of the agreed period.
(11) An insurance broker shall designate any bank account under paragraph (2) and (3)
as an insurance broking premium account, with or without other words of description.
(12) An insurance broker shall not create or cause to create a charge or mortgage on
the monies in any account established by it under paragraphs (2) and (3) and any charge
or mortgage so created shall be null and void.
(13) This rule shall also apply to a reinsurance broker, in respect of contracts for the
reinsurance of liabilities under insurance policies.
(1) An insurance broker shall not receive from any insurer, reinsurer or from any
person on behalf of any insurer or reinsurer, any gift, gratuity, benefit or other reward,
however described.
(2) An insurance broker shall explicitly disclose to the client the remuneration which
it is entitled to and the broker fee which it proposes to levy for services rendered to the
client in arranging or effecting a particular contract of insurance.
(3) An insurer shall not pay to an insurance broker, and an insurance broker shall not
receive from an insurer, in respect of the arranging or effecting of contracts of insurance
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by the insurance broker with the insurer, remuneration at a rate or on a basis that has been
varied, having regard solely to all or any of the following:
(b) the total amount of premium paid or payable under such contracts;
(4) (a) An insurance broker shall enter into a written agreement with the insurer or
reinsurer as the case may be on the amount of remuneration it is entitled to deduct from
the premium, the basis on which the remuneration is calculated and on any period which
is less than 30 days within which the insurance broker shall remit the monies to the
insurer in the contract of insurance.
(6) This rule shall apply to a reinsurance broker, in respect of contracts for the
reinsurance of liabilities under insurance policies.
9 Broker fee
(1) An insurance broker may levy a broker fee to the client, provided it meets the
following requirements:
a) the insurance broker discloses the existence of the broker fee which it
proposes to charge at the time of the initial premium quotation;
c) the client agrees to the broker fee in advance of the agreement, after full
disclosure of all material facts surrounding the broker fee;
d) the insurance broker shall provide the completed insurance broker’s standard
disclosure and the insurance broker’s remuneration and broker fee disclosure
agreement in accordance with the First Schedule for review of the client along
with the initial premium quotation; and
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e) the client and the insurance broker shall sign the insurance broker’s
remuneration and broker fee disclosure agreement set out in the First Schedule.
(2) An insurance broker shall not charge or attempt to charge a broker fee for a
renewal, endorsement, or other service, without having disclosed those fees in the broker
fee agreement.
(3) Without prejudice to the powers of the Commission, an insurance broker shall
refund the entire broker fee if it acted incompetently or dishonestly resulting in financial
loss to the client, or if it negligently or intentionally did any of the following acts or
omissions regardless of financial loss:
b) failure to place the client’s coverage within the time period indicated to the
consumer or within a timely manner;
(1) Every insurance broker shall maintain a register of its broking staff containing the
following particulars:
(b) the category or categories of insurance broking activity which each of its
broking staff is carrying on;
(c) the date or dates on which each of its broking staff starts to carry out each
category of insurance broking activity; and
(d) any qualification obtained by each of its broking staff to fulfil any requirement
imposed by the Act, any regulations made there under or any guidelines issued by
the Commission, and the date of obtaining such qualification.
(2) An insurance broker shall also establish and maintain a register consisting of
internal records of the identity of each of its clients in accordance with the Financial
Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002, any regulations made thereunder,
FSC Rules and any other guidelines issued by the Commission from time to time.
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(3) An insurance broker shall keep in relation to its business activities, full and true
written records which shall include account files and business correspondence.
(1) An insurance broker shall not change its balance sheet date without the approval
of the Commission.
(2) An insurance broker shall submit to the Commission not later than 3 months after
the expiry of each balance sheet date and with reference to that year -
(c) a statement in accordance with Form 2A and Form 2B as set out in the Second
Schedule giving particulars of the category and placement of all its business
handled during that financial year:
(i) in the case of a general insurance business broker or long term insurance
business broker or both general insurance business and long term
insurance business broker, a statement in accordance with Form 2A of the
schedule giving particulars of the insurers with whom the largest volume
of its business was placed;
(ii) a list of all the insurers dealt with for insurance risks together with the
amount of premiums and remuneration from each company for insurance
contracts which have been effected, with respect to each quarter and
insurance category; and
(1) Any document referred to in rule 11 shall be submitted to the Commission by the
insurance broker and signed by —
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(b) its chief executive officer or such other person in Mauritius who is authorised
by its chief executive officer and approved by the Commission.
(2) Every person who signs any balance-sheet referred to in rule 11(2)(a) shall sign a
certificate in accordance with Form 3 of the Second Schedule and such certificate shall be
submitted to the Commission by the insurance broker.
13 Auditor’s report
(1) An insurance broker shall submit to the Commission within 3 months from the
end of each financial year a report prepared and signed by its auditor in accordance with
Form 4 of the Second Schedule stating the auditor’s opinion on the audited financial
statements, insurance broking premium accounts, and statements referred to in rules 11
(2) (a) to (c).
(2) An insurance broker shall, within 90 days from the date of the auditor’s report,
take steps to rectify any deficiencies set out in the auditor’s report and inform the
Commission accordingly.
(3) All the books of account, statements, contract notes and other documents, shall be
maintained at the head office of the insurance broker or other branch office as may be
designated by the broker and notified to the Commission, and shall be available on all
working days to such officers of the Commission.
All the books, statements, contract notes and other documents referred to in Part V and
Part VI and maintained by the insurance broker shall be retained for a period of at least
seven years from the end of the year to which they relate or after the completion of the
transaction as the case may be.
(1) An insurance broker shall cease to act as an insurance broker on and from the date
of revocation or suspension of the licence.
(2) Subject to paragraph 4, an insurance broker whose licence has been suspended or
revoked, shall, however, for a period of six months after such suspension or revocation as
the case may be, continue to provide services in respect of contracts already entered into
and shall also, within that period, make suitable arrangements for having those contracts
serviced by another insurance broker.
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(3) An insurance broker whose licence has been suspended or revoked shall disclose
to the Commission all details of suitable arrangements made along with the details of
policies being served in respect of contracts already concluded.
(4) Notwithstanding the fact that the licence of an insurance broker has been revoked
or suspended under this rule, the insurance broker who remains under any liability to an
insurer or client shall take such measures as may be necessary or as may be required by
the Commission to ensure that reasonable provision has been or will be made for that
liability.
(5) With respect to the services to be provided under paragraph (2), the Commission
may, at the time of suspending or revoking the licence, impose such conditions,
restrictions and limitations on these services as it deems fit.
(1) Without prejudice to any other enactment, an insurance broker shall obtain the
consent of the client in the form specified in Part I and Part II of the First Schedule and
retain the record for the term of the contract or up to policy expiration, whichever is later.
(2) An insurance broker shall provide the client with a duly filled in and signed copy
of the form specified in paragraph (1) immediately after receiving the premium payment
for the proposed risk coverage.
17. Commencement
These Rules shall come into operation on the date of its publication in the Government
Gazette.
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FIRST SCHEDULE:
( Rule 16(1) )
1. Do not sign any insurance broker agreement unless all of its blank lines and
spaces have been duly filled in and you have read this entire document and the
agreement carefully.
2. Your insurance broker represents you, the client, and is entitled to remuneration
for its services which is included in the premium quoted for the insurance
contract. The remuneration which the insurance broker is entitled to is not set by
law.
3. In addition to or instead of the remuneration stated above, your insurance broker
may levy a broker fee. The broker fee is not set by law, and may be negotiable
between you and the insurance broker.
4. Broker fees are may be refundable. Refer to your broker agreement to see when
your broker fee is refundable. However, you may be entitled to a full refund of a
broker fee if your insurance broker acted incompetently or dishonestly.
5. The insurance broker as disclosed in the broker agreement retains the
remuneration and forwards the premium net of remuneration to the insurer.
6. Refer to your insurance broker agreement to look for the remuneration which the
insurance broker is entitled to with regard to the services under consideration.
7. You are entitled to obtain a completed copy of this disclosure and any insurance
broker agreement you sign.
Client’s initials:______
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PART II
The insurance broker agreement shall include all the required information on the
services provided by the insurance broker along with the following:
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8. The following are the due dates for payment of premium and the corresponding
premium amounts in connection with current placement of CLIENT’s insurance
(non-payment of premiums shall be subject to provisions of Livre Troisième, Titre
Douzième , Chapitre Troisième of the Code Civil Mauricien).
9. The following are the nature and amount of all fees known to INSURANCE
BROKER that will be charged by persons other than INSURANCE BROKER in
connection with current placement of CLIENT's insurance. These fees are not
retained by INSURANCE BROKER:
10. The insurance broker shall remit the premium collected from the CLIENT on
_________ (dd/mm/yy) to the insurer within __________days from the date of
signing the agreement.
11. The insurance broker has explained in detail and provided the information of all the
available products in the market, their coverage, terms and conditions for review of
the client.
12. The client is in agreement with the insurance services with respect to the product,
its coverage, terms and conditions that have been advised by the insurance broker.
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SECOND SCHEDULE
FORM 1
( Rule 11(2)(b) )
ROW RS.
NO.
PART I
BALANCE OF ACCOUNT AT BEGINNING OF FINANCIAL 1
YEAR
PART II
INSURANCE BROKING PREMIUM ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS
Monies Received During Financial Year
Premiums 2
Claims monies 3
Interest credited in the account 4
Others 5
TOTAL MONIES RECEIVED ( 2 to 5) 6
Monies Withdrawn During Financial Year
Premiums 7
Interest credited in the account 8
Claims monies 9
Remuneration received 10
Other approved withdrawals 11
TOTAL MONIES WITHDRAWN (7 to 10) 12
PART III
BALANCE OF ACCOUNT AT END OF FINANCIAL YEAR 13
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Names and signatures of two Directors:
Notes to Form 1
1. An insurance broker shall complete a separate form for each category of licence
and for each insurer separately and a separate form for the total amounts
transacted for each category of licence under each bank account.
2. All amounts shown in this Form are to be rounded up to the nearest Rupee.
Negative amounts shall be preceded by ( - ).
3. “Other approved withdrawals” refers to other monies which have been approved
for withdrawal by the Commission.
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FORM 2A
( Rule 11 (2)(c ) )
Note: Please submit a separate form for each category of business being conducted, if
both general insurance business and long term insurance business broking are being
conducted.
Note:
1. Please submit separate form for each category of business being conducted, if both
general insurance and long term insurance broking are being conducted.
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2. The table for quarterly business figures above shall be completed for each quarter
separately.
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FORM 2B
Note:
(1) Please submit the above form separately with respect to contracts which have been
subsequently denied or refused or cancelled where the remuneration and broker fee, if
any, received and not refunded.
(2) Please submit the above form separately with respect to contracts which have been
subsequently denied or refused or cancelled where the remuneration and broker fee, if
any, received and refunded/ refundable.
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PART B: PLACEMENT OF BUSINESS WITH REINSURERS:
Total
1. A reinsurance broker shall complete separate forms for each category of licence
i.e. for general reinsurance and long term reinsurance business..
2. All amounts shown in this Form are to be rounded up to the nearest Rupee.
3. Premiums refer to premiums received or receivable by the insurer during the
financial year.
4. Reinsurance premiums refer to reinsurance premiums paid or payable by the
insurer during the financial year
5. Fee refers to the broker fee to be charged to the client.
6. Contract refers to the facultative reinsurance arrangements made in respect of a
particular contract.
7. Part B shall represent only the particulars of all the reinsurance arrangements
where the reinsurer has accepted at least one treaty or contract during the financial
year.
8. In respect of treaties or contracts which have been referred to the reinsurers, but
have been subsequently denied/refused, a foot note to Part B shall be made giving
only total number of treaties/contracts that have been denied or refused by
reinsurers during the financial year.
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FORM 3
( Rule 12 (2) )
We, the undersigned, hereby certify that in our opinion and to the best of our knowledge,
the assets set forth in the balance sheet are fully of the value stated in the balance sheet
and that in the relevant financial year, the minimum stated capital, the professional
indemnity insurance as per the Insurance Regulations 2007 and any other relevant
regulations, FSC rules or guidelines have been complied with and that no part of the
assets has been dealt with in contravention of rule 4.
Names and
signatures of:
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FORM 4
( Rule 13 (1) )
2. Our audit was carried out in accordance with requirements of the Companies Act,
for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the accounts. Our examination was
necessarily conducted on a test basis and included such samples as we deemed
appropriate. In this connection, we have reviewed the accounting system and
system of internal controls in operation and reliance has been placed on internal
controls where appropriate.
3. In our opinion and to the best of the information and according to the explanations
given to us -
(a) the audited financial statements and the insurance broking premium
accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the
Insurance Act 2005, regulations and FSC rules made thereunder;
(b) the balance sheet represents a true and fair view of the financial position
of the business of the insurance broker; and
(c) the books of the insurance broker have been properly kept and recorded
fairly the affairs and transactions of the insurance broker in respect of that
business.
Firm:
Date:
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