The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has issued its final version of the Corporate Governance Guideline (CGG). The CGG sets out OSFI’s expectations for boards of directors of federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs). The CGG applies to all FRFIs other than the Canadian branch operations of foreign banks and insurance companies. The … Continue Reading
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) recently released two notices on the implementation and regulation of the Canadian bail-in regime, namely: CSA Staff Notice 46-309, in connection with the regulation of Bail-in Debt (as defined below); and CSA Staff Notice 81-331, in connection with the implications of the bail-in regime on investment fund issuers, subject to … Continue Reading
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has released proposed revisions to the Leverage Requirements (LR) guideline in order to align with upcoming modifications to Chapter 4 (Settlement and Counterparty Risk) and Chapter 7 (Securitization) of the Capital Adequacy Requirements (CAR) guideline. The LR set out the framework for the leverage ratio, which … Continue Reading
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has released a discussion paper on the proposed implementation of the final Basel III reforms in Canada. The reforms were published in December 2017 and, in summary, seek to: Enhance credibility in the calculation of risk-weighted assets. Improve the comparability and transparency of banks’ capital ratios. … Continue Reading
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has provided greater transparency to the market surrounding the Domestic Stability Buffer (the DSB) currently held by Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) in a bid to guard against Pillar 2 risks associated with systemic vulnerabilities. OSFI revealed last week that D-SIBs must hold an extra cushion, … Continue Reading
Last week, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) issued its final guideline on total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) disclosure requirements for Canadian domestic systemically-important banks (D-SIBs). The new guideline sets out the format, timing and location of the TLAC disclosure requirements, among other things. The new guideline further requires that D-SIBs begin … Continue Reading
The high-paced growth of residential home prices, particularly in the Vancouver and Toronto markets, is continuing to generate concern both from the Bank of Canada and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI). In its semi-annual Financial System Review, released on June 6th, the Bank noted that the vulnerability of the financial sector … Continue Reading
The Canadian government continues to be concerned with the escalation in house prices in Canada, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver. While the government will not say that it considers these markets to be overvalued, clearly, there is concern that the extended period of low interest rates has caused homeowners to be overextended. On December 11th, … Continue Reading
On October 31st, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released the final version of its new Leverage Requirements Guideline. The Guideline is based on the BCBS publication Basel III Leverage Ratio Framework and Disclosure Requirements and implements the Basel leverage ratio requirement for Canadian banks and federally regulated deposit-taking institutions. Unlike the … Continue Reading
The Canadian government recently published for comment a consultation paper on a proposed bail-in regime applicable to Canada’s domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs). The bail-in regime, formally referred to as a Taxpayer Protection and Bank Recapitalization Regime, would grant to the Government of Canada the power to permanently convert “eligible liabilities” of the D-SIB into … Continue Reading
