BrokerExamRIBO’s September 2026 newsletter, the RIBO Review, opens with a deadline. Licensees who have not renewed their individual or firm licence have until September 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET to do it. That is an extension: By-Law No. 3, s. 2.4 (b), puts the renewal date at August 31 each year, and a reminder went to unrenewed licensees at the end of August. The rest of the issue covers a new look for individual licence certificates, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) confirmation deadline for brokerages that use its ARIS system, and how a broker who serves more than one brokerage is supposed to be registered. The fee for the year starting October 1 is not an item in the issue, but the issue links to RIBO’s fees page, and the figures from that page are below as well.
What a missed renewal costs
A licence runs from October 1 to September 30 (By-Law No. 3, s. 2.4 (a)). A licensee who does not renew and pay the annual fee is put into administrative suspension under s. 8.2 (s. 2.4 (c)), and a suspended licensee is not eligible to file a renewal application (s. 2.4 (d)). Getting back means a reinstatement under s. 8.3, and RIBO’s newsletter warns of late renewal and reinstatement fees on top of the annual fee. As of September 1, 2026, RIBO’s fees page lists the general administration fee, which includes reinstatement, at $50.
The renewal itself has two parts: the renewal questions have to be answered and the payment has to go through. RIBO’s newsletter says a renewal succeeds only when both are done.
The fee changes on October 1
The individual annual licence fee for the licensing year ending September 30, 2026, is $240. For the year running October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2027, it is $265. Both figures are on the fees page linked above. For an application that lands between July 1 and September 30, the fees page quotes a half-year fee for the current year plus the full fee for the coming one.
New licence certificates, same firm licences
Individual certificates of registration issued after September 30 get a new design. RIBO says the certificate still carries the registration details and still serves as evidence of registration as an insurance broker in Ontario. Firm licences for 2026-2027 keep their current format.
ARIS confirmation for brokerages
Some brokerages have to re-authenticate each year in ARIS, the MTO’s Authorized Requester Information Services program. The MTO’s deadline for a brokerage to confirm its RIBO licence is October 10, 2026. RIBO’s instructions: keep the firm renewal confirmation email that went to the principal broker, download the renewed 2026-2027 firm licence on or after October 1, and send both to the MTO between October 1 and October 10.
Serving more than one brokerage
The newsletter’s conduct item is about brokers who work for, or serve clients on behalf of, more than one brokerage. It comes up when neighbouring firms cover for each other, when staff support several offices, and during the handover after an acquisition or amalgamation. RIBO’s position is that even a temporary arrangement has to show up in the licensee’s registration, so the individual is licensed with each brokerage.
The by-law puts the duty on the individual. Under By-Law No. 3, s. 2.7 (a) (v), an individual licensee has to notify RIBO within ten calendar days when their employment or sponsorship is withdrawn or changed. The newsletter describes the filing from the firm side: the principal broker, or an appointed designate, submits RIBO’s online employment change form within 10 days with a Secondary Brokerage Notice attached. The notice needs letters confirming that each principal broker knows about the other brokerage, that the individual is covered under each firm’s errors and omissions and fidelity bond policies, and which brokerage stays the primary one on record. RIBO says the primary brokerage should be the one the individual acts for most of the time. Once processed, RIBO’s Licensee Search shows every brokerage the individual is associated with.
The same item points licensees back to ss. 14 and 15 of O. Reg. 991, the Code of Conduct and the definition of misconduct, and to pages 4 and 5 of RIBO’s Code of Conduct Handbook. Paragraph 9 of s. 15 (1) makes failure to comply with the Act, the regulation or the by-laws a form of misconduct.
For candidates
This issue carries no exam-format item. The rules it leans on come from two documents, both of which RIBO links from its Level 1 exam page. By-Law No. 3 supplies the October 1 to September 30 licensing year, the August 31 renewal date, administrative suspension for non-renewal, and the ten-calendar-day notification rule for an employment change. O. Reg. 991, the general regulation under the RIB Act, supplies the Code of Conduct and the definition of misconduct. Questions on both documents sit in the general practice section on this site.