Effective July 12, 2010 the Superintendent’s permission to transfer assets related to DC provisions was removed from the Pension Benefits Standards Act. As a result, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has issued a Guidance Note to inform the pension industry of OSFI’s expectations when such a transfer occurs, including transfers from plans with members subject to provincial pension legislation.
When assets related to defined contribution provisions of a federally regulated pension plan are being transferred to another pension plan, OSFI expects plan administrators to ensure that affected members’ rights and benefits are preserved.
Specifically, prior to transferring assets related to DC provisions, OSFI expects transferring plan administrators to ensure the following:
- the value of a member’s DC account balance is not reduced;
- all contributions due are remitted to the transferring plan for the affected members;
- any outstanding interest or dividend distributions earned to the date of transfer will be deposited to the member’s account in the receiving plan;
- transferring members are informed of the asset transfer and their account balance; and
- the affected members’ records will be transferred to the receiving plan administrator.
Following a transfer of assets, transferring plan administrators are expected to notify OSFI in writing of the plan to which assets were transferred, the date of the transfer and the amount.
Plan’s registration vacated as a result of an asset transfer
If all the assets of a DC pension plan are being transferred to another pension plan, the transferring plan administrator must continue to file annual certified financial statements until all of the plan’s assets have been transferred.
The transferring plan’s registration will be considered vacated when OSFI receives written confirmation from the transferring plan administrator that the assets have been transferred along with a year-to-date financial statement from the custodian of the transferring plan.
This does not include a portability transfer to another pension plan or a custodial change within the pension fund. In a custodial change, the new trust agreement or insurance contract must be filed with OSFI.
Plans with members subject to provincial pension legislation
Plan administrators seeking an approval from OSFI with respect to a transfer of assets for members subject to provincial pension legislation are expected to complete the Standardized Asset Transfer Form available on OSFI’s Web site.
OSFI has reciprocal agreements in place with every designated province except Newfoundland and Labrador and the agreement with Quebec only covers members who are employed in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut or Yukon.
Plans with members subject to Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador pension legislation must file a separate request to transfer assets with those jurisdictions.