{"id":17119,"date":"2019-10-08T09:45:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T13:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benefitscanada.com\/news\/fsra-offering-late-filing-pension-plans-safe-harbour-on-administrative-monetary-policies-136618"},"modified":"2019-10-08T09:45:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T13:45:41","slug":"fsra-offering-late-filing-pension-plans-safe-harbour-on-administrative-monetary-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/10\/08\/fsra-offering-late-filing-pension-plans-safe-harbour-on-administrative-monetary-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"FSRA offering late-filing pension plans \u2018safe harbour\u2019 on administrative monetary policies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Julius Melnitzer<\/span> | October 8, 2019 <\/p>\n

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is giving late-filing pension plans a \u201cone-time\u201d opportunity to avoid administrative monetary penalties.<\/p>\n

The \u201csafe harbour,\u201d which applies to any outstanding filings under the Pension Benefits Act, expires on Oct. 31. \u201cRather than have people concerned about flagging non-compliance with late filings, the FSRA has offered this amnesty of sorts,\u201d says Kathryn Bush, a partner and pension lawyer at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP.<\/p>\n

In an email to Benefits Canada, <\/em>the FSRA noted Ontario has a \u201chighly compliant pension industry\u201d in which only a \u201csmall number\u201d of plans have outstanding filings. \u201cThe provision of additional time to come into compliance was seen as an additional motivator,\u201d the FSRA wrote, adding its intent is to work closely with non-compliant plans to facilitate filing by the deadline.<\/p>\n

Read: Incoming monetary penalties for Ontario pensions put spotlight on plan governance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFSRA  has indicated that they\u2019re going to go so far as to actually contact late filers,\u201d says Bush. \u201cThere is no doubt they\u2019re trying to be proactive and helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The safe harbour is part of a principles-based regulatory approach the FSRA is adopting to fulfil its mandate to transform the regulatory environment in pensions. \u201cIn developing an approach to address past filing deficiencies, we were careful to be both risk-based and outcome-focused, paying specific attention to regulatory filings of high value,\u201d stated the FSRA. \u201cWe wanted to focus our attention on those filings, which we assessed as material to the regulation of pension plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Fremont, a partner and pensions lawyer at Bennett Jones LLP, says the principles-based approach is particularly apt to late filings. \u201cThere are always people who fail to fulfill their obligations,\u201d he says. \u201cBut many do so largely through inadvertence.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the FSRA is clear it will use administrative monetary policies to achieve compliance among plans with significantly late regulatory filings after Oct. 31, it will continue the principles-based approach to enforcement inherent in its administrative penalties guideline.<\/p>\n

Read: Ontario announces plans for new pension regulator<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat process includes FSRA\u2019s reminder notices about when filings are due, the ability to request a filing extension if a delay in filing is anticipated, the opportunity for plan administrators to explain why summary AMPs should not be imposed and the ability for plan administrators to appeal to the Financial Services Tribunal,\u201d wrote the FSRA in its email.<\/p>\n

The regulator also emphasized that administrative monetary penalties will continue to be only part of the principles-based approach. \u201cFSRA will also utilize other means to achieve the desired regulatory outcomes, namely ensuring that plans meet their filing requirements and demonstrate good administration and plan governance,\u201d it noted.<\/p>\n

With that being said, resort to AMPs should increase after Oct. 31. \u201cHaving given late filers an opportunity to avoid sanctions with the safe harbour, I see the FSRA stepping up enforcement and imposing more AMPs,\u201d says Fremont.<\/p>\n

Read: Plan sponsors face new monetary penalties under Ontario pension changes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julius Melnitzer | October 8, 2019 The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is giving late-filing pension plans a \u201cone-time\u201d opportunity to avoid administrative monetary penalties. The \u201csafe harbour,\u201d which applies to any outstanding filings under the Pension...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}