{
  "title": "Canada: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note-Insurance Sector: Regulation and Supervision",
  "publication": "IMF Staff Country Reports, January 24, 2020",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2020/01/23/canada-financial-sector-assessment-program-technical-note-insurance-sector-regulation-and-48975",
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  "summary": "This chapter on Financial Safety Net and Crisis Management for the Canada reviews the insurance sector’s regulation and supervision. The paper highlights that Canada has a highly developed insurance market that is important to Canada’s economy.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Reviews the insurance sector’s regulation and supervision in Canada.\n- Highlights that Canada has a highly developed insurance market that is important to Canada’s economy.\n- Regulation and supervision are conducted by federal and provincial authorities.\n- Insurers can be incorporated under the federal or provincial regime."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Regulatory framework",
      "content": "- Federal level:\n  - Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is responsible for prudential regulation and supervision of federally regulated insurers.\n- Provincial level:\n  - Provincial supervisors oversee prudential oversight of provincially regulated insurers and conduct oversight of all insurers operating in their jurisdictions.\n- Legal and operational arrangements:\n  - Group-wide supervision lacks a sufficiently strong legal foundation and consistency of application across jurisdictions.\n  - OSFI and Autorité des marchés financiers have no legal powers over unregulated holding companies and therefore rely on voluntary agreements with those companies."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Supervisory responsibilities and practices",
      "content": "- OSFI:\n  - Prudential regulation and supervision for federally regulated insurers.\n- Provincial supervisors:\n  - Prudential oversight for provincially incorporated insurers.\n  - Oversight of all insurers operating within their jurisdictions.\n- Cooperation:\n  - Federal-provincial cooperation and coordination should be further improved to strengthen oversight."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings and concerns",
      "content": "- Canada’s insurance market is highly developed and economically important.\n- Dual federal-provincial regulatory regimes create complexity in supervision.\n- Group-wide supervision:\n  - Needs improvement in legal foundation and consistency of application.\n- Supervisory reach over unregulated holding companies:\n  - Absent legal powers; OSFI and Autorité des marchés financiers depend on voluntary agreements to obtain information and apply prudential requirements for insurance groups."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy implications and recommendations",
      "content": "- Strengthen federal-provincial cooperation and coordination to improve supervision across jurisdictions.\n- Improve the legal foundation for group-wide supervision and ensure consistent application across federal and provincial regimes.\n- Address the supervisory gap over unregulated holding companies to reduce reliance on voluntary agreements and enhance the ability to obtain information and enforce prudential requirements.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- 1canea2020006\n  - 1canea2020006 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - 1canea2020006 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}"
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    "Published: January 24, 2020",
    "Series: IMF Staff Country Reports",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513527208.002",
    "Reviews the insurance sector’s regulation and supervision in Canada.",
    "Highlights that Canada has a highly developed insurance market that is important to Canada’s economy.",
    "Regulation and supervision are conducted by federal and provincial authorities.",
    "Insurers can be incorporated under the federal or provincial regime.",
    "Federal level:",
    "Provincial level:",
    "Legal and operational arrangements:",
    "OSFI:",
    "Provincial supervisors:",
    "Cooperation:",
    "Canada’s insurance market is highly developed and economically important.",
    "Dual federal-provincial regulatory regimes create complexity in supervision.",
    "Group-wide supervision:",
    "Supervisory reach over unregulated holding companies:",
    "Strengthen federal-provincial cooperation and coordination to improve supervision across jurisdictions.",
    "Improve the legal foundation for group-wide supervision and ensure consistent application across federal and provincial regimes.",
    "Address the supervisory gap over unregulated holding companies to reduce reliance on voluntary agreements and enhance the ability to obtain information and enforce prudential requirements.",
    "**1canea2020006**"
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