Errors & omissions insurance for mortgage professionals: what Canada's regulators require.

E&O insurance protects clients — and the broker — against claims arising from negligent advice or errors in how a file was handled, from a missed disclosure to a documentation mistake that costs a client money. Every provincial regulator treats it as a condition of being licensed or registered to deal in mortgages, not a discretionary business purchase.

That framing matters when comparing provinces: the requirement sits inside the licensing framework itself, administered by the same regulator handling training, exams, and suitability — see mortgage licence requirements by province for the full comparison.

In Alberta, RECA requires every mortgage brokerage to maintain E&O insurance and a fraud endorsement from a RECA-approved provider, with published minimums of $500,000 per single occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate in any 365-day period. RECA will not authorize a brokerage without proof of this coverage in place.

In Quebec, the AMF places the obligation on firms, independent representatives, and independent partnerships to hold professional liability insurance issued for at least 12 months, with proof submitted to the AMF only when requested — see our fuller breakdown in Quebec mortgage broker continuing obligations. Ontario's FSRA and British Columbia's BCFSA also treat coverage as a condition of brokerage licensing; check each regulator's current resources directly for their specific terms, since published minimums can change.

Ontario's numbers are public and specific: FSRA requires every mortgage brokerage and administrator to carry E&O insurance — with extended coverage for fraudulent acts built into that same required policy rather than a separate endorsement — covering a minimum of $500,000 for any one occurrence and $1,000,000 for all occurrences in a given year. The requirement applies at all times without exception, even when a brokerage isn't actively doing business, and FSRA must be notified immediately if the policy is cancelled or not renewed, under Ontario Regulations 188/08 and 189/08.

Yes — a genuine change, not a continuation of an existing rule. BCFSA states plainly that, currently, there is no requirement for mortgage brokers or submortgage brokers to carry E&O insurance in B.C. at all. That gap closes October 13, 2026, when the Mortgage Services Act (MSA) takes effect: under section 62 of the MSA Rules, every licensed brokerage must maintain E&O with extended fraud coverage, at minimums of $500,000 per single occurrence and $1,000,000 for all occurrences in a 365-day period — the same level as Ontario's and Alberta's.

Multi-province brokerages face a wrinkle: BC's rule requires meeting the minimum in each licensed province separately, with no sharing a single policy across affiliated brokerages. See the BC registration path for how this fits the MSA shift.

Say a documentation error leads to a $650,000 claim against a brokerage carrying the minimum coverage — $500,000 per occurrence, $1,000,000 aggregate. The per-occurrence limit caps that single claim's payout at $500,000; the brokerage or its principals are personally exposed for the $150,000 gap, regardless of how much aggregate room is left.

If a second, unrelated $400,000 claim lands in the same 365-day period, the aggregate is what caps total payouts across both at $1,000,000 combined — not $500,000 stacked freely per claim. Treating “per occurrence” and “aggregate” as interchangeable can badly misjudge how much of a bad year a minimum policy actually absorbs.

Standard coverage responds to claims of negligent advice, errors or omissions in documentation, and the cost of defending against those claims — including, in some provinces' frameworks, groundless allegations that still require a defence.

What it typically does not cover is fraud committed by the insured broker themselves — that's why Alberta's framework, for example, requires a separate fraud endorsement alongside the base E&O policy rather than folding it into the same coverage.

Renew before the policy lapses, confirm coverage transfers or is replaced when moving between brokerages or provinces, and keep a current certificate of insurance on file — regulators generally request proof on demand rather than on a fixed public filing schedule, which makes it easy to let lapse unnoticed.

This is one of the recurring compliance items worth tracking on a fixed calendar rather than memory — see the First-Year Compliance Calendar for a broader list of what to track alongside it.