Regulatory reporting guide for banks and authorized foreign banks

I. Introduction

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) supervises federally regulated financial entities to determine whether they are complying with applicable consumer provisions and any codes of conduct and public commitments that FCAC oversees and with which the entities have agreed to abide (collectively, “market conduct obligations”).

This reporting guide applies to Banks (including federal credit unions) and Authorized Foreign Banks (collectively referred to as “Banks”).Footnote 1

As noted in section 5.3 of FCAC’s Supervision Framework, Banks must file specific information with FCAC within the timeframes and formats prescribed by its legislation and regulations. This information includes complaint-handling procedures, public accountability statements and notices of branch closures, all of which FCAC reviews to ensure compliance. FCAC may request Banks to submit additional information not addressed in this guide.Footnote 2

Failure to meet statutory filing requirements may lead to enforcement action.

FCAC expects Banks to designate a compliance liaison to interact with FCAC and ensure filing requirements are met. The compliance liaison is a senior official serving as the Bank’s main point of contact for market conduct obligations.

II. Purpose

This regulatory reporting guide provides details about specific information that Banks must file with FCAC. This guide complements FCAC’s Supervision Framework. However, it is not a substitute for the laws and regulations monitored by FCAC. When in doubt, please refer to the applicable legislation and regulations. Refer to the following resources to learn more about the:

This guide covers the following topics:

III. FCAC’s use of regulatory reporting information

FCAC uses the information provided by Banks to monitor their compliance with applicable market conduct obligations and determine appropriate promotion, supervision, and/or enforcement actions.

The data FCAC receives serves additional functions, including but not limited to:

IV. Procedures for dealing with complaints

All Banks must have procedures in place to deal with complaints about the products and services they offer, sell, or provide, and about the manner in which they are offered, sold, or provided.

FCAC’s Guideline on Complaint-Handling Procedures for Banks and Authorized Foreign Banks sets out FCAC’s expectations with respect to how Banks implement the complaint-handling provisions in the Bank Act and Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations (FCPF Regulations).

As per the Bank ActFootnote 4  and FCPF Regulations, Banks must file a copy of their complaint-handling procedures with FCAC and make the procedures available as a brochure in their branches when products or services are offered in Canada. Banks must also post the procedures on their websites offering products or services in Canada, and provide them in writing to anyone who requests them. FCAC also expects Banks to ensure the procedures are easily accessible on all of the digital platforms they use.

Should a Bank change its external-complaints body, it must provide the Commissioner with a written notice at least 90 days in advance.Footnote 5

Banks must also refile a copy of their complaint-handling procedures when a significant change to their procedures has been made.Footnote 6

When someone submits a complaint, the Bank must retain a record of the complaint.Footnote 7  The record must be retained for at least seven years and contain:

V. Complaint record submission

Banks must submit a record of each complaint received (directly or referred to them) by a designated officer or employeeFootnote 8  to FCAC within 60 days after the end of each quarter, as outlined in the Bank Act and FCPF Regulations. The content of the record to be submitted to FCAC is outlined in section 627.44 of the Bank Act.

Classifications

The table below is a comprehensive list of products and services that Banks can attribute complaints with when reporting to FCAC. To satisfy the requirements under paragraph 627.44(g) of the Bank Act, Banks are required to use the following list:

Products and services

Array 1
  • Account
  • Credit card
  • Debit card
  • HELOC
  • Insurance
  • Investment
  • Line of credit
  • Loan
  • Mortgage
  • Prepaid card
  • Other
Array 2
  • Agreement
  • Alerts
  • Balance
  • Cancellation
  • Closure
  • Collections
  • Complaint handling
  • Credit limit
  • Creditor insurance
  • Estate
  • Fees / Charges
  • Financial advisor services
  • Interest
  • Internet banking / Services
  • Mobile phone banking / Services
  • Opening
  • Overdraft
  • Payment
  • Power of attorney
  • Renewal
  • Safety deposit box
  • Statement
  • Telephone banking / Services
  • Teller services
  • Transaction
  • Transfer
  • Other

FCAC’s expectations on fields that require a description

For certain requirements under section 627.44 of the Bank Act, Banks must provide a description of:

The following tables provide examples about what information Banks should provide where a description is required:

Description of the nature of the complaint

Array 1: Account

Array 2: Fees / Charges

Description: Consumer complained that additional transaction fees of [$XX. XX] were charged to their chequing account on [date] when the account has a fixed fee of [$XX.XX/month] for unlimited transactions.


Array 1: Credit card

Array 2: Interest

Description: Consumer was unhappy that on [date] interest of [$XX.XX] was charged on their [name of credit card and type] when the balance had been fully paid off within the 21-day grace period.


Array 1: Mortgage

Array 2: Financial advisor services

Description: Consumer felt pressured by the financial advisor to take a fixed rate mortgage instead of a variable rate mortgage. Consumer indicated to their advisor their preference for a variable rate mortgage five times before the advisor relented and agreed.


Array 1: Other

Array 2: Safety deposit box

Description: Consumer complained that the annual safety deposit box fee was increased from [$XX.XX] to [$XX.XX] without being notified.

Description of actions taken to attempt to resolve a complaint

Array 1: Mortgage

Array 2: Financial advisor services

Description: The mortgage department began their investigation on [date]. The bank contacted the consumer at the home number on file on [date] and left a voicemail. A second attempt to contact the consumer was made on [date] and contact was made. The consumer was provided with an explanation by phone and a substantive written response was provided to the consumer on [date].


Array 1: Credit card

Array 2: Interest

Description: Consumer was contacted on [date] to provide further information. Consumer provided the requested information on [date]. Credit card operations began investigation on [date]. A substantive written response was provided to the consumer explaining the interest calculation and why there was an error on [date].

Description of compensation provided

Array 1: Account

Array 2: Fees / Charges

Description: Consumer was reimbursed [$XX.XX] in additional transaction fees on [date] and was provided with free banking for a year (valued at [$XX.XX] over the course of the year).


Array 1: Other

Array 2: Safety deposit box

Description: As a gesture of goodwill, the consumer was reimbursed the annual fee of [$XX.XX] on [date].

Required use of FCAC’s secure portal for complaint record submission

To efficiently receive complaints and satisfy the requirements of reporting elements required by section 627.44 of the Bank Act, FCAC requires each Bank to electronically submit a record of each complaint that has been received by or referred to a designated officer or employee using FCAC’s Secure Portal (the Portal).

All Banks are required to submit nil reports through the Portal, when applicable.

For more information on the usage of the Portal, please refer to:

Deadline to submit complaints

Banks are required to submit their complaint data to FCAC on a quarterly basis, within 60 days after the end of each quarter.

The following table sets out the submission deadlines:

Quarter For period Deadline
Q1 April 1 to June 30 August 29
Q2 July 1 to September 30 November 29
Q3 October 1 to December 31 March 1
Q4 January 1 to March 31 May 30

VI. Public complaints information

According to section 627.47 of the Bank Act,Footnote 12  Banks operating in Canada are obligated to make certain information available to the public on an annual basis. Additionally, paragraph 39 of FCAC’s Guideline on Complaint-Handling Procedures for Banks and Authorized Foreign Banks clarifies FCAC’s expectations of the information Banks must provide.

Banks must make this information available within 135 days after the end of their financial year on their websites that offer products or services in Canada. They must also provide or send the information in writing to any person who requests it.

In addition, FCAC expects Banks to report this information to the Commissioner  within 135 days after the end of their financial year. Banks must also include the link to where this data appears on the Bank’s website.

VII. Reportable compliance issues

According to section 5.3 of FCAC’s Supervision Framework, Banks must submit reportable compliance issues to FCAC.

Definition

Banks must report compliance issues that meet the following three criteria:

  1. The issue must be a breach of a market conduct obligation.
  2. The issue would normally be reported to the Bank’s compliance division.
  3. The issue meets, at a minimum, one of the following:
    • once detected by the Bank, it took longer or will take longer than 120 calendar days to fixFootnote 13  and remediateFootnote 14  the issue; or
    • the issue affected or affects more than 250 consumersFootnote 15 ; or
    • the issue was or is ongoing for more than 1 year before the Bank detected it

The compliance issue may have been identified through various means including, but not limited to:

For greater certainty, a reportable compliance issue must be reported to FCAC even though:

If a compliance issue has already been reported to FCAC through the normal reporting of a reportable complaint, it should still be reported as a reportable compliance issue and linked to the initial report.

Required use of reportable compliance issues template

Each compliance issue must be reported to FCAC using Annex D: Reportable compliance issues template (PDF, 827 KB).

Deadline to file reportable compliance issues

Banks must submit any reportable compliance issue within 60 days of the compliance issue being reported to their compliance division.

VIII. Notice of branch closure

According to relevant legislation and regulations,Footnote 16  before closing a branch, ceasing to open retail deposit accounts, or disbursing cash to customers at a branch, Banks must notify FCAC, their customers, and the public.

This applies to all branches where:

Deadline for providing a notice of branch closure

The timeframe to provide this notice varies according to:

The Commissioner must receive notices of branch closures at least:

Content of the notice to the Commissioner

The notice sent to FCAC must include the following information:

Additionally, Banks that are committed to the Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors (PDF) must inform FCAC of any planned measures taken to meet Principle 6 of the Code as part of their Branch Closure notification or in subsequent communications.

Exceptions

Under certain circumstances, the notice of branch closure is not required. Please refer to the Bank ActFootnote 19  and FCPF Regulations.

IX. Public accountability statements

Please note that this section of the FCAC Reporting Guide does not apply to Authorized Foreign Banks.

According to the Bank ActFootnote 20  and FCPF Regulations, all Banks with equity of $1 billion or more must publish an annual statement describing their respective contributions and prescribed affiliates to the Canadian economy and society.

Prescribed affiliates are either:

Content of public accountability statements

Banks’ public accountability statements must include specific details about the period covered by the statement. For more information on public accountability statements, please refer to section 627.996 (1) of the Bank Act and FCPF Regulations.

Exceptions

A Bank may not be required to include certain information relating to a prescribed affiliate in its statement if it is published in a separate statement. Please refer to the Bank ActFootnote 21  and FCPF Regulations.

Disclosure of public accountability statements

Banks must disclose their public accountability statement by:

Deadline for filing public accountability statements with the Commissioner

Banks must file this statement within 135 days after the end of their financial year.

X. Codes of conduct and public commitments

FCAC is responsible for promoting the adoption of policies and procedures designed to implement legislation, regulations, codes of conduct, and public commitments by Banks for monitoring Banks’ compliance with their obligations.

List of codes of conduct and public commitments

The Bank ActFootnote 22  requires Banks to disclose the codes of conduct they have adopted and public commitments they have made, by making them available:

FCAC expects Banks to report the list of codes of conduct and public commitments to which the Bank adheres to FCAC by April 1 of each year.

Low-cost and no-cost accounts

Additional rules apply to Banks that have committed to providing low-cost Bank accounts and offering no-cost accounts with the same features as low-cost accounts to a wider range of eligible consumers. These Banks must provide:

Annual Report for the Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors

Banks that have committed to the Code of Conduct for the Delivery of Banking Services to Seniors (PDF) must publish, at least annually, a report on:

Each Bank must publish the report on its website within 135 days following the end of its financial year.Footnote 23  Banks will also need to provide a copy of the report to FCAC, who will compile and make the information available to the public.

XI. Board and committee reporting

Please note that this section of the FCAC Reporting Guide does not apply to Authorized Foreign Banks.

Section 195.1 of the Bank Act sets out reporting requirements for the Bank and its directors regarding the directors' (or Board’s) oversight of the Bank's compliance with consumer provisions.

Bank’s report to the CommissionerFootnote 24

A Bank must report to FCAC on the committee designated by the board as required under paragraph 157(2)(e) (the committee) and on its frameworkFootnote 25  for complying with consumer provisions. The report should include the items noted below as well as any other information the Bank deems relevant for consideration by FCAC in this regard:

Deadline for filing the Bank’s report to the Commissioner

The first report must be filed with FCAC by January 31, 2023.

Banks that incorporated (or continued) subsequent to October 31, 2022, must provide this report within 90 days of incorporation.

Ad hoc reports

Banks must file ad hoc reports in a timely manner further to a change to the:

Directors’ report to the CommissionerFootnote 27

The directors must report to FCAC on the committee’s activities during the preceding financial year in performing the duties under subsection 195.1(3) of the Bank Act. FCAC expects the report to include information (including attachments as supporting documentation) on:

Deadline for filing the Director’s report to the Commissioner

The directors must file this report annually within 90 days following the end of the Bank’s financial year.

XII. Contact FCAC

If you have questions related to your Bank, please contact FCAC at compliance@fcac.gc.ca or the lead FCAC supervisor assigned to your Bank. Apart from the quarterly complaint reporting, all other required reports should be sent to this email address, in accordance with the deadlines stated above.

XIII. Annexes

Annex A: FCAC Secure Portal – External User Guide

Annex B: Quarterly Complaints Reporting: Submission Scheme Reference (PDF, 421 KB)

Annex C: JSON Schema (PDF)

Annex D: Reportable compliance issues template (PDF, 239 KB)

Page details

Date modified: