Licensed agents must maintain their licence through continuing education (CE) requirements. In Ontario, FSRA requires 30 CE credits over each two-year licence cycle to qualify for renewal. CE credits must relate to the technical content of the agent's licensed categories (life, accident and sickness, or both).
CE requirements across provinces differ in the number of hours required, whether specific subject areas (ethics, compliance) must be covered, and whether CE is self-reported or submitted directly to the regulator. Agents practising in multiple provinces must satisfy each province's requirements.
Failure to complete CE before licence renewal results in licence expiry. An agent whose licence expires cannot practise; continuing to do so is unlicensed activity. Agents must retain CE completion certificates for the period the regulator specifies (often four years in Ontario).
Common mistake: treating CE as optional quality improvement rather than a mandatory licence-maintenance requirement. CE deficiency prevents renewal; working with an expired licence attracts the same penalties as unlicensed activity from the start.
Recall: How many CE credits does Ontario require for a two-year licence renewal? What must an agent do if they fail to complete CE before the licence expiry date?