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CPIB Designation

Through the Canadian Professional Insurance Broker (CPIB) explore new issues and perspectives through business, analytical, and insurance skills in these courses developed by brokers for brokers. Streams and electives in this university-level designation program focus your particular areas of expertise. Take all six courses to earn your designation, or take individual courses to sharpen your skills in a particular area.

Prerequisites

Brokers must have either completed the CAIB or AICC/CIP designations, you must also be an active member of the IBAA.

If you're still starting out and you'd like more information on the path to become a broker click here.

All prices are displayed as Member/Non-Member.

CPIB Modules

 

How does it work

  • Complete 2 mandatory courses common to all streams and 1 mandatory course that defines your stream
  • Specialize in personal lines, commercial lines, or brokerage management (business strategies).
  • Declare your specialization at any point (but ensure your electives and mandatory course match it)
  • Choose three elective courses from a variety that includes IBAA, college, and university courses

Courses

Designation Path

Choose one of the following.

 

Advanced Personal Lines

20 CE credits for General, and Adjuster licenses

Price: $210/$410

 
 

Advanced Commercial Lines

20 CE credits for General, and Adjuster licenses

Price: $210/$410

 
 

Business Strategies

22 CE credits for General, and Adjuster licenses

Price: $210/$410

 

Mandatory Courses

 

Law & Ethics

22 CE credits for General, Adjuster, Accident & Sickness, and Life licenses

Price: $210/$410

 
 

Claims Management & Admin

20 CE credits for General, Adjuster, Accident & Sickness, and Life licences

Price: $210/$410

 

Electives

Your three elective courses must match your chosen specialization and be approved by IBAA. Elective courses/equivalencies can be taken through an accredited university, or college, or in some cases the IBAA. Distance learning may be available.

Elective Process:

 

Step 1

Review the requirements for your chosen CPIB path below, and submit your electives to our education team for review. $30 one-time flat fee.

 

Step 2

Wait for the IBAA/IBAC team to review.

This process can take up to 4 weeks so we appreciate your patience.

 

Step 3

Once approved, enroll in and complete your courses at their respective education institutions.

 

Step 4

Once completed, submit your courses to the IBAA. This can be done one at a time, or all three.

 

Step 5

Pay the transfer fee for completed courses to be added to your CPIB record. Members: $50 | Non-Members: $100 per course

 

Step 6

The IBAA will provide next steps. If you've already completed all mandatory courses, as well as all three electives you will be advised on a timeline for your Certificate.

For a general outline of elective requirements please click the options below.

 

Advanced Personal Lines

 

Advanced Commercial Lines

 

Business Strategies

Exams

All exams are closed-book, 3.5 hours in length, and will be written physically with a proctor. Once you've completed your registration, please fill out and submit the Proctor Nomination Form to education@ibaa.ca. Our education team will review your registration, alongside your proctor and confirm your write date. Exams must be booked a minimum of 15 business days in advance of your write date to give us time to prepare your exam.

Once your exam is complete, your exam will be shipped off to a marker, this process can take up to 30 business days. You will receive your mark via email. Exams require a minimum grade of 60% to pass.

Prices:

  • First time: $450/$900
  • Retake: $150/$300

Changes to your exam write date, must be approved by the IBAA Office in writing.

CPIB exams will only encompass the five main CPIB courses, not your chosen electives.

  
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Advanced Personal Lines

This course expands on personal-lines information learned in CAIB 1.

Chapters

  1. Building Self-Confidence (power of insurance, attitude, time management, tools of the trade)
  2. Selling to Your Prospect Profile (steps in the selling process that make buying easier)
  3. Beyond the IBC Residential Forms (major differences in wordings, placing a homeowners policy)
  4. Beyond the IBC Residential Liability Form (major differences in homeowners forms, umbrella wordings, definitions, insuring agreement, coverage, limits, & exclusions, conditions)
  5. Seasonal & Secondary Residences (comparing wordings, dwelling building & personal property)
  6. A Home-Based Business (what residential policies provide, business property, business liability, home-business extensions, eligibility requirements, who is a prospect, coverage)
  7. Dwelling Heating Systems (common heating systems & terms, central systems, space heaters, wood stoves, oil tanks)
  8. Risk Management & Underwriting (steps in the risk management process, goal of underwriting, the underwriter, underwriting residential policies & specific perils)
  9. Case Studies
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Advanced Commercial Lines

This course expands on commercial-lines information in CAIB 2–3.

Chapters

  1. Property (underwriting & submissions, leases, warranties, bylaws, risks, moral hazards, course of construction)
  2. Liability (coverage, exposures, products liability, extensions, claims made, umbrella legal liability)
  3. Miscellaneous Coverage (equipment breakdown, E&O, environmental impairment, types of industries at risk)
  4. Financial Analysis (financial statements & analysis, annual reports, sources of capital, financial ratios)
  5. Financial Application (business interruption, D&O, contract bonding)
  6. Emerging Coverage (employment practices liability, cyber liability)
  7. Risk Management (in the sales process, broker’s role, types of risk, risk-management strategies, corporate risk review)
  8. Proposals & Presentations (sales proposal objectives, strategy, writing, formats, & issues, oral presentations, speech techniques, underwriting submissions)
  9. Sales (products, services, relationships, training, persuasion, negotiations, commitment)
  10. Account Management (client relationship levels, self-limiting behaviours, choices, market segments, client thoughts, competition, loyalty, time usage, account retention, client satisfaction)
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Business Strategies (Brokerage Management)

This course expands on CAIB 4 to develop best practices in brokerage management.

Chapters

  1. Strategic Leadership (leadership & management, strategic planning)
  2. Financial Management (corporate reporting, the financial cycle, benchmarking, income & expense control, quantitative analysis, sample financial statements, preparing a business plan or financing proposal, applying for finance, sources of capital, your relationship with your lender)
  3. Human Resources (the HR function, hiring process, managing people, employment law issues, dealing with employee problems, rating your employee relations)
  4. Inside the Brokerage (developing an operations manual, systems integration, E&O control system, privacy, emergency preparedness, office safety & security regarding burglary & robbery)
  5. Sales & Service (broker’s duty of care, insurance company relations, client management, sales process, customer relationships, checklists)
  6. Marketing Strategies (market forces, marketing programs, strategic considerations, directing the market message, branding, Broker Identity Program, managing advertising & promotion, measuring marketing & advertising effectiveness, best advertising)
  7. Strategic Communication (communication theory, strategic communication, proactive & reactive communication with the media, 4 Cs of communication, communicating with the public, communicating with government officials, negotiating, corporate social responsibility, communication evaluation)
  8. Growth, Valuation, & Perpetuation (how growth is measured, growth through networking, acquisition/alliances valuation, valuation, perpetuation strategies, new corporate culture after succession)
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Law & Ethics

Courts increasingly hold professionals in the marketplace to high standards of care. This course shows brokers the rapid changes in the legal climate and the growing influence of ethical considerations in the business world.

Chapters

  1. Basic Law—Business Law (3 legal forms of business organization, joint ventures, contract law, contract formation, intentional & negligent torts)
  2. Professional Ethics I: Ethical Principles & Issues (defining ethics, teleological & deontological theories, ethical realism)
  3. Professional Ethics II: Personal & Organizational Ethics (obstacles to ethical behaviours, personal value statements, the value of subquadrants, brokerage value statements integrating basic personal values, change & transition framework, ethical responsibilities to the public)
  4. Insurance Brokers as Professionals at Common Law (broker as a professional adviser, areas giving rise to broker negligence claims, liability arising from advice, liability arising in the application procedure, liability arising from interim coverage issues, liability arising from renewals)
  5. Developing a Risk Management Strategy for Professional Liability (claims reporting, broker’s duty to insurers, broker’s duty to third parties, broker’s personal liability, defences to broker liability, overview of the litigation process)
  6. Corporate Law (rights & liabilities of the corporation as a legal person, corporate directors & officers, duties & liabilities of directors & officers, oppression actions, shareholder rights, provincial corporate law supplements)
  7. Insurance Brokerages & Business Contracts (commercial lease rights & obligations for real property, common lease provisions, issues & concerns in insurance company contracts, provisions in insurance company contracts)
  8. E-Commerce, Privacy Rights, Legislation, & Practice (e-commerce, personal information privacy, privacy & the law, challenges to privacy posed by technology, privacy in the workplace, legality of email monitoring, email professionalism & policy, Personal Information Protection & Electronic Documents Act, provincial privacy law supplements)
  9. Employment Contracts: The Employment Relationship (benefits of an employment agreement, key clauses in employment contracts, enforcement of employment contracts, obligations of departing senior employees)
  10. The Employment Relationship & Termination (employment standards legislation, harassment in the workplace, sexual harassment policy, terminating the employment relationship, provincial employment law supplements)
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Claims Management & Administration

This course takes an advanced look at the claims process from the perspective of an insurance broker.

Chapters

  1. The Brokerage & Claims Management (broker’s role at law & in practice, operational procedures, impact of insurer’s poor claims practices, creating a claims-responsive brokerage culture, surveys in the claims process)
  2. The Human Experience of Claims & Communication (listening, empathy, emotional intelligence, psychology of loss)
  3. Responsibilities & Rights of the Insured (first- & third-party losses, misrepresented & fraudulent claims, importance of the application, components of a claim, claims in excess of policy limits)
  4. Responsibilities & Rights of the Insurer (first- & third-party losses, duty of good faith, negotiations & settlement, valuation of loss, subrogation & salvage, application of coverage as basis for void ab initio, reservation of rights, coverage trigger & loss allocation theories, claims-made-&-reported policies, duties to the broker)
  5. Responsibilities & Rights of the Public (fraud in the Canadian insurance industry, law of insurance fraud, types of fraud, responsibilities & right of insurance adjusters, duty owed, adjuster's codes of ethics)
  6. Claims by Assignees & Third Parties: The Claims Process & the Legal System (claims by assignees & third parties, legal assignment & equitable assignment, common assignments of insurance contracts, persons with insurable interest, insuring multiple interests, judgment creditors)
  7. Bad Faith Claims & Punitive Damages (punitive damages for breach of insurance contracts, the two-way street of the doctrine of good faith, proof of loss, time limitations for filing & rejecting proofs, non-waiver agreements & reservations of rights letters)
  8. The Legal System & Claims (the claims process & the legal system, the litigation process, the economics of litigation, legislation & judicial discretion, property & casualty claims, automobile insurance, first- & third-party losses)
  9. Alternative Dispute Resolution & Claims: A Broker’s Perspective (background, difference of rights-based dispute resolution & ADR, categories of ADR, ADR & the claims process, overview of the ideal model, broker evaluation of insurer complaint systems, external systems)
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Accounting/Finance

Understand the language of accounting in a course that balances theory with practice, covering accounting terminology and financial accounting principles and practices. Learn how to construct balance sheets and income statements, and to analyze financial statements. Learn also how to record accounting information, organize it for presentation, and interpret and use the information as a basis for business decisions.

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Marketing

Bridge the gap between marketing theory and application. This course is of particular relevance to those wishing to broaden their knowledge of the functional areas of marketing. Basic marketing concepts are carefully examined and then applied through case analysis. Topics include the marketing mix, pricing policies, marketing channels, distribution theory, and consumer behaviour.

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Sales Management

Develop professional selling skills. Understand the development of background knowledge in sales techniques as well as the application of this material to professional selling, preparing for the presentation, overcoming objections, and closing the sale.

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Communications

Explore concepts in communication to foster meaningful relationships with others in every aspect of our lives. You gain insight into the early and continuing influences of others in shaping who you are; gender and cultural differences in communications; cognitive theory and our core values; factors of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and self-esteem; ethics and diversity in the workplace; and personal accountability and empathy leading to effective work teams. The classroom experience provides for theory and practice in an atmosphere of support, interaction, and humour.

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Business Administration

Gain insight into the primary processes required for you to run a successful company. The importance of both internal and external influences on your firm's functional areas is also considered. Examine the administrative process of planning, organizing, directing, controlling, staffing, leading, and measuring, and look at the functions of the finance, personnel, and marketing operations.

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Organizational Behaviour

The ability to manage people is a critical skill, regardless of your discipline or area of responsibility. Understand and use the principles of behavioural science. Learn about influencing behaviour, motivating people, group dynamics, exercising power and leadership, communicating, designing a job, and understanding how structure, technology, and environment influence people in organizations.

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Risk Management

Understand the basics of risk management in a Canadian insurance environment. Topics include the risk management concept; objectives and techniques; risk management in an organization and its effect on profits; risk identification and analysis; property, income, and liability risks (traditional, industrial, consumer, and environmental); personnel loss and probability risks; risk management decision-making; and capital budgeting methods.

If you are interested in completing your CRM designation, it is recommended that you contact RIMS with respect to your registration requirements to ensure that you receive proper accreditation for this course. It is possible to receive a credit for both the CPIB and CRM programs.

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Management Accounting

Gain an introduction to the internal use of accounting data for planning, controlling, and decision-making. The goal is to help you identify relevant cost information. Topics include types of cost accounting systems, patterns of cost behaviour, and problems of cost determination, allocation, budgeting, and control.

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Human Resources

Examine the basic processes of the human resources management function and how these processes interrelate and contribute to an organization's success. Topics include strategic human resources management, leadership and motivation, compensation and employee benefits, performance management, recruitment and selection, labour relations, employment law, managing in diversity, training, organizational development, and the evolving role of the human resources professional.

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Business Finance

Explore the basic theoretical concepts of finance, which require both understanding and mastery for effective decision-making. You will focus on the process of financial planning and effective decision-making for a variety of business enterprises. Course content includes financial-ratio analysis, budgeting, forecasting policy, short/long-term financing, capital budgeting, and cost/risk factors of capital budgeting.

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Management Information Systems

Use, develop, and manage computer-based systems. The first half of the course covers the basic features of hardware, software, communications, and databases. The second half examines how users, businesses, the economy, and society are affected by the development of this technology.

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Sales Management

Develop professional selling skills. Understand the development of background knowledge in sales techniques as well as the application of this material to professional selling, preparing for the presentation, overcoming objections, and closing the sale.