Investing in People and Talent

Growth in FTEs^[4], discussed above, will provide FSRA the necessary resources to build supervisory capacity to oversee the life agents and other activities. Staff levels stay consistent until FY2022-23 when FSRA begins to realize efficiencies from IT investments.

FSRA continues to build and deliver human resources (HR) programs and services to support its transformative people strategy in alignment with the business strategy and priorities.

Key initiatives include:

Culture Advancement

• Developing HR programs that measure and build employee engagement.
• Creating a cross-functional committee that champions diversity, inclusion and equity.
• Placing an overall focus on developing a collaborative and innovative culture.

Investment in Talent

• Developing and refining recruitment processes, including branding and visual identity.
• Developing an approach to succession planning for executive and management positions.
• Providing a comprehensive onboarding program.
• Creating a learning and development framework and programs to align with organizational priorities.

Building Strong Foundations

• Developing a bargaining strategy for the first round of FSRA collective agreements.
• Developing a Workday (Workday is a financial and human capital management software) roadmap for Human Capital Management, Payroll, Talent, Learning and Recruitment enhancements, and developing a new functionality in alignment with the strategic priority to modernize systems and processes across the enterprise.

For non-union and management staff, FSRA has a salary administration policy and guidelines based on five principles:

• fiscal responsibility, governance, compliance with all applicable legislation and accountability;
• alignment with organizational mandate, strategic directions and values;
• value of the total compensation package;
• external competitiveness and internal equity; and consistency balanced with flexibility in compensation program design and application

FSRA determines compensation for designated executives in accordance with the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 (BPSECA) and FSRA’s Executive Compensation Framework, approved pursuant to the BPSECA in 2018.

A benchmarking exercise comparing our positions against same or similar positions in other broader public sector organizations, and establishing compensation levels for those executive positions was completed prior to launch when establishing the Executive Compensation Framework.

In accordance with Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019, FSRA’s three-year moderation period for management/excluded staff started in FY2019-20 and will continue to the end of FY2021-22. FSRA will engage in bargaining with both bargaining units between 2021- 2022 and will prepare to implement the three-year moderation period at that time.

In addition to its compensation programs, FSRA provides a traditional suite of benefits to its full-time equivalents (FTEs) and to casual (part-time) employees that meet specific thresholds. These benefits are 100 per cent employer paid. Additionally, employees are eligible to participate in a suite of optional benefits at their own expense. FSRA also offers programs for short- and long-term disability as well as a comprehensive Employee & Family Assistance Program.

FSRA has a headcount^[5] of 561 positions (Table 3). This includes active staff plus position vacancies that FSRA expects to fill during the fiscal calendar year.

• Staff include management, non-union and bargaining-represented employees (the latter accounts for approximately 68 per cent of the workforce).
• As a result of the transfer of FSCO from MOF, FSRA inherited Ontario Public Service collective agreements due to successor rights. With consolidation, FSRA now has two collective agreements: Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Association of Management, Administration and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario.

Table 3: Workforce Management (Data as of Sept 22, 2020)

FSRA is a participating member of several other forums, including:

• Canadian Automobile Insurance Rate Regulators (CARR);
• Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA);
• Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR);
• Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO);
• Credit Union Prudential Supervisors Association (CUPSA);
• International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).
• General Insurance Statistical Agency (GISA);
• Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN);
• Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators; and
• Mortgage Broker Regulators’ Council of Canada (MBRCC).

Through these forums, FSRA works with other regulators on policies and rules that:

• support industry strength and stability across participating jurisdictions;
• enhance regulatory cooperation and reduce redundancies;
• develop rules that are integrated and more effective in achieving consumer protection public policy outcomes;
• promote innovation and economic growth by encouraging new business models that support changing consumer preferences, technology changes, and new entrants to the Ontario market; and,
• enhance the protection of consumers of financial products and services, and the effective implementation of financial consumer protection frameworks, by promoting robust and effective supervisory standards.

FSRA’s National Regulatory Coordination Branch supports these outcomes by:

• providing secretariat services to CAPSA, CCIR, CISRO, GISA and MBRCC; and
• working collaboratively with the secretariat of the Canadian Securities Administrators on the activities of the Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators.

Through these bodies, FSRA is engaged in several initiatives with third parties including, but not limited to, the following examples:

Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) Annual Statement on Market Conduct (ASMC) Database

The ASMC was introduced by CCIR in 2017 to collect information from insurers across Canada related to their governance, practices, policies and treatment of customers. The requirement to complete and file the ASMC is based on the authority of each provincial and territorial insurance regulator within their jurisdiction. The information collected has facilitated a better understanding of the market for regulators and assisted in proactively identifying potential risks to ensure insurance customers are being treated fairly.

Through a service agreement with CCIR members, including FSRA, the Autorité des marchés financiers acts as service provider with regard to the receipt, storage, aggregation and reporting of market conduct data collected through the ASMC. The initial term expires March 28, 2022, and the agreement allows for an extension of one-year.

CCIR/Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO) Canadian Insurance Regulators Disciplinary Actions (CIRDA) Database

The CCIR/CISRO CIRDA is a searchable database of published insurance disciplinary decisions in Canada. The publicly accessible website enables consumers and regulators to search individuals and firms that have been the subject of enforcement action by insurance regulators in Canada, including FSRA.

FSRA is a member of both CCIR and CISRO, and FSRA representatives serve on the executive committee of both organizations. FSRA is well positioned to monitor/evaluate the performance and to assess the continuing alignment of these third-party initiatives with FSRA’s regulatory objectives.

FSRA/Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Pension Plan Joint Filing Agreement

The Pension Plan Joint Filing Agreement between FSRA and the CRA reduces regulatory burden to pension plan administrators by supporting a single annual pension plan filing, which meets the information needs of both agencies. The information is captured in the AIR, most notably in the Schedule A.

The AIR information shared includes plan details related to the plan registration number, plan name, plan and benefit type, reporting period and pension plan contact information. It also includes information relating to plan funding, membership, last actuarial valuation report filed and plan cessation or termination. The information is shared through an exchange of data files that are digestible by both FSRA and CRA systems and occurs daily or when an AIR is submitted to FSRA.