February 19, 2007 Insurance Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders

Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (hereinafter "AMF") has announced that it has come to a settlement with Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, Scottish & York Insurance Company Ltd, Elite Insurance Company And Traders General Insurance Company (hereinafter the "Insurers"), relating to the conformity of the statistical data transmitted to the Groupement des assureurs automobiles in accordance with the automobile statistical plan of Quebec.

The AMF concluded that the process of gathering and the transmission of necessary statistical information required improvement so that a reinforced supervision be carried out, particularly with respect to the reliability and the coherence of the communicated data.

The AMF asserts that following its recommendations, the Insurers have set up a new process relating to the gathering and the transmission of the statistical data which satisfies the requirements of the AMF. This new process will ensure that the statistical data and the information concerning the experience of its insurers relating to automobile insurance in Quebec will make it possible the AMF to carry out its mandate of monitoring, more specifically, the manner in which is determined the classification and the corresponding rates.

The agreement also provides that the Insurers will each pay an amount of $42,000 to the AMF, for a total lump sum of $168,000, said sum intended in part to refund the cost of the investigation.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.

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Information:

Media only:
Frédéric Alberro (514) 940-2176
Issuers, dealers, advisers and representatives: (877) 525-0337, choose option 9 for English, then 1 for industry
Consumers and investors: (877) 525-0337, choose option 9 for English, then 8 for consumers