While good governance practices must be at the core of any pension plan, intricate frameworks are designed to be proportional to the size of the sponsoring organization, according to Leah Fichter, vice-chair at the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities and deputy superintendent of pensions and executive director of the pensions division at the Financial Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan.

“We don’t expect every small plan [sponsor] to have to focus on everything, but we would expect plan sponsors would go through the guidelines and be aware of what’s there,” she said during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Defined Contribution Plan Summit, speaking about the capital accumulation plan guidelines, which were updated in 2024.

Fichter recommended plan sponsors have a process for reviewing service providers and investment options so their models don’t default to a one-and-done system. She encouraged plan sponsors to embark on regular reviews alongside a review of member education and decision tools.

Read: How CAPSA’s fee transparency guidance is impacting plan sponsors

“Plan sponsors need to have a governance framework, be clear on the roles and responsibilities in terms of the pension plan, communication, risk management and the selection of service providers.”

The Saskatchewan regulator oversees about 550 different pension plans in the province and regulators across the country collaborate through specific issues that affect smaller plans. Indeed, most of the plans in the province are very small with about 50 members or fewer, said Fichter.

However, Saskatchewan’s size doesn’t impact its reputation as the DC capital of Canada, she noted, referring to two of the country’s largest DC plans — the Public Employees Pension Plan and the Co-operative Superannuation Society Pension Plan. “Forty-two per cent of the assets we regulate are in DC plans. If you compare that to elsewhere in Canada, it’s under 10 per cent.”

Read: Sounding Board: What employers need to know about CAPSA’s 2024 CAP guideline

The limitations in the province are also showing, she said, through the availability of variable payment life annuities. The CAPSA has been working on the legislative framework for this offering across Canada but in Saskatchewan, she added, only two large plans are able to offer VPLAs.

“However, there are other options out there. There are pooled registered pension plans and we are also working on expanding that to make it more accessible to people, so individuals with [registered retirement savings plan] money would be able to transfer into the PRPP and get a VPLA from that.”

The work that goes into creating new pension guidelines, added Fichter, relies on information shared by the industry itself. “We put together industry working groups and they provide us with a lot of help in writing the guidelines and they give us the practical side and make sure that what we’re wanting to do is going to actually work.”

Read more coverage of the 2025 DC Plan Summit.