BrokerExamThe Registered Insurance Brokers Act defines “insurance”, in its own section 1, as the Insurance Act defines it minus life insurance. That subtraction is what separates the two licences: a RIBO licence covers general insurance and stops short of life, and life insurance is licensed by FSRA under the Insurance Act. Which exam you write, the RIBO Level 1 or the LLQP, follows from which side of that line the job sits on.
What a RIBO licence covers
Here is the definition the entire Act turns on, from s. 1:
“insurance” has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act, but does not include life insurance as defined under that Act
The same section repeats the carve-out for “contract”, which “does not include a contract of life insurance as defined under that Act”. Everything the Act goes on to regulate, who may act as an insurance broker, what a member may do, what counts as misconduct, sits inside those definitions. Life insurance sits outside them.
RIBO’s Level 1 licensing page says the same thing without the statutory wording, read on August 31, 2026: “In Ontario, insurance brokers that sell general insurance (often referred to as property and casualty insurance) must be licensed through the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO), which regulates and oversees the profession.”
The Level 1 exam is weighted to that same product line. As of August 31, 2026, the RIBO exam page breaks its 100 multiple-choice questions into 25 on general insurance and industry knowledge, 25 personal lines habitational, 25 personal lines automobile, 20 commercial lines and 5 travel health, written over three hours, with 15 piloted questions that do not count and a pass mark of 75%. Not one of those sections is life insurance.
If the job is placing property and casualty business at a brokerage, the licence is a RIBO licence and the exam is Level 1. Life insurance is not on the syllabus because the Act’s definition puts it outside what RIBO regulates.
Where the life side starts
The RIB Act hands the definition of life insurance back to the Insurance Act, and the Insurance Act is where the other licence lives. Section 392.2 (2) lists the three classes of agent’s licence that may be issued in Ontario:
- Licence for life insurance and accident and sickness insurance.
- Licence for accident and sickness insurance.
- Licence for all classes of insurance other than life insurance.
Section 392.2 (6) makes acting as an agent without the required licence an offence: “Every person who acts as an insurance agent in Ontario without the licence required by this Part, or does so while the person’s licence is suspended, is guilty of an offence.”
The regulator on that side is FSRA, not RIBO. RIBO’s own licensing page says so, and names the structural difference in the same breath: “In Ontario, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) licenses insurance agents that typically can only arrange coverage with a single insurance company.” The statute backs that up for two of the three classes. Section 392.2 (4) says a class 2 or class 3 licence “authorizes an agent to act for one insurer only, and the insurer itself must be licensed under this Act to undertake the applicable class of insurance.”
LLQP is the qualification attached to the life side. The federal Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, in its guidance on getting an insurance policy, tells consumers to ask an agent or broker “if they passed the Life License Qualification Program (LLQP) if you’re buying life insurance”.
That is as far as this page goes on the LLQP. Its format, its modules, its fees and its course providers are FSRA’s to publish, and none of them are stated here; take them from FSRA and treat any other source as unverified. What the legislation settles on its own is the boundary: a RIBO licence does not reach life insurance, and selling life insurance in Ontario requires an agent’s licence issued under the Insurance Act.
Holding both
The two licences are not alternatives. Paragraph 10 of O. Reg. 991, s. 15 (1) lists as misconduct by a RIBO member: “Acting as an insurance agent or holding himself, herself or itself out, advertising or conducting himself, herself or itself in such a manner as to lead a reasonable person to believe that the member is an insurance agent.” Read alone, that paragraph would catch a broker who also sells life insurance. Subsection (2) is the exception written to stop it:
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a member from being licensed as and acting as a life insurance agent under the Insurance Act.
RIBO handles the administrative side on the same terms. From the Level 1 licensing page, read on August 31, 2026: “You may hold a life and health or accident and sickness agent licence alongside a RIBO licence. However, licensing conflicts such as holding an adjuster, Other-Than-Life licence, real estate or mortgage broker licence will not be allowed.”
The excluded licence worth naming is the Other-Than-Life one, because it is the third class in s. 392.2 (2): a licence “for all classes of insurance other than life insurance”, tied under s. 392.2 (4) to a single insurer. It covers the same products a broker places, from the other side of the table. The life and accident and sickness classes do not, which is why RIBO allows those two alongside a broker licence.
Which one you need
Match the licence to the business you intend to write.
| What you want to sell | Licence | Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| Auto, home, commercial, travel | RIBO licence, starting at Level 1 | RIBO |
| Life insurance, or life and accident and sickness | Agent’s licence under the Insurance Act, s. 392.2 (2) para. 1 | FSRA |
| Both | Both, held together | RIBO and FSRA |
If it is the RIBO route, the licensing page lists what comes after the exam: a job offer from a RIBO-registered brokerage in Ontario, a criminal record check less than 60 days old, government-issued ID, and the registration fee. A Level 1 broker then works under the supervision of a Principal Broker and must be employed or sponsored by an active firm licensee. Passing the exam is the start of the application, not the end of it, and the page opens that warning with “Passing the exam does not guarantee licence eligibility”, going on to name the background checks that follow.
If it is the life route, the application belongs to FSRA and this site does not cover it. If it is both, O. Reg. 991, s. 15 (2) allows the two to be held together.
The sources behind the boundary are all in the legislation library on this site: the RIB Act for the definition, the Insurance Act for the agent licence classes, and O. Reg. 991 for the conduct rule and its exception.