The Reporter provides a monthly summary of Canadian federal legislative and regulatory developments of relevance to federally regulated financial institutions. It does not address Canadian provincial financial services legislative and regulatory developments, although this information is tracked by BLG and can be provided on request. In addition, purely technical and administrative changes (such as changes to reporting forms) are not covered.
February 2016
| Institution | Published | Title and Brief Summary | Status |
| OSFI [Applicable to banks, trust and loan companies, cooperative credit associations and insurance companies] |
Issued February 29, 2016 | E-22 Margin Requirements for Non-Centrally Cleared
Derivatives OSFI is issuing the final version of Guideline E-22, which requires the exchange of margin to secure performance on non-centrally cleared derivatives transactions between covered entities. These margin requirements will mitigate systemic risk in the financial sector as well as promote central clearing of derivatives where practicable. The provisions of this Guideline are consistent with margin requirements issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and support the financial stability objectives of the international framework. OSFI recognizes the cross-border nature of the non-centrally cleared derivatives market, and supports efforts to reduce the application of duplicative or conflicting margin requirements. The Guideline therefore permits deference to other jurisdictions and regulators when justified by the quality and comparability of the respective regulatory regime. |
Effective September 1, 2016 |
| BIS/Basel [Applicable to banks] |
Published February 4, 2016 | General guide to account opening The Basel Committee deems it worthwhile to issue this guide as an annex to the guidelines on the sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, which was first published in January 2014. These guidelines revised, updated and merged two previous publications of the Basel Committee, issued in 2001 and 2004. The revised version of the General guide to account opening and customer identification takes into account the significant enhancements to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations and related guidance. In particular, it builds on the FATF Recommendations, as well as on two supplementary FATF publications specifically relevant for this guide: Guidance for a risk-based approach: The banking sector and Transparency and beneficial ownership, both issued in October 2014.. |
Effective |
| Finance | Published (Gazette) – February 10, 2016 | Regulations Amending the Eligible Mortgage Loan
Regulations Regulations Amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations The Objectives of the Amendments are as follow:
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Various dates of coming into force |
| Bank of Canada | Issued February 1, 2016 | Criteria and Risk-Management Standards for
Prominent Payment Systems. The criteria and risk-management standards exercise the Bank of Canada's new responsibility for identifying and overseeing payments systems that have the potential to pose payments system risk. The Bank is currently using the criteria to identify systems that may pose payments system risk and will provide public notice of any system that will be designated for oversight. The Bank has also published summaries of, and responses to, comments received through the consultation process initiated in June 2015 regarding the new criteria and risk-management standards for prominent payment systems: Consultations on the Criteria and Risk-Management Standards for Prominent Payment Systems: Summary and Responses to Comments Received. |
Effective |
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