Paul Litner
Nov 29, 2016
In a recent article for Benefits Canada, Julius Melnitzer looks at the implications of Bill 70, the Ontario legislation creating a new pension regulator. According to the article, the legislation will give the regulator “powers to impose administrative monetary penalties [that] will create an environment with considerably more regulatory muscle.”
“My suspicion is that we’re going to see a very different regulator,” says Paul Litner, a partner in Osler’s Pensions and Benefits Practice Group. “The combined effect of the changes to the Pension Benefits Act and the creation of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority will result in a regulatory environment that has more muscle and one that is willing to flex that muscle and ensure compliance.” According to the article, a lot of the regulator’s “added clout” will derive from legislative amendments that enable the superintendent of pensions to “impose administrative monetary penalties of up to $25,000 for non-compliance with the act or regulations.”
Paul also tells Benefits Canada that the new regulator will be more like the Ontario Securities Commission. The “agency will have broad authority across multiple financial sectors, not just pensions, with the power to modernize the current regulators: the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the Deposit Insurance Corp. of Ontario and the Financial Services Tribunal.”
“FSRA will be self-funded, independent of government but accountable to government, and proactive in making policy,” adds Paul.
Read more in Julius Melnitzer’s article “Plan sponsors face new monetary penalties under Ontario pension changes” in Benefits Canada.