Pension update – May 14, 2026
Welcome message
As we move through the first half of 2026, I am pleased to share an update on several important initiatives underway across Pensions.
With our FY2025-26 corporate planning cycle complete, our focus has shifted to taking stock of progress made against our planned goals and reporting on the outcomes achieved over the year. This work will support the development of our upcoming annual report, which we look forward to sharing later this year.
At the same time, internal planning for FY2026-27 is underway. We are actively shaping our priorities for the year ahead, building on the progress and learnings of this past year.
This winter, we concluded a productive round of engagement activities, including meetings of our Technical Advisory Committees and the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, as well as targeted outreach to the legal community. The thoughtful input and feedback from committee members, sector stakeholders, and legal practitioners continues to play an important role in informing our supervisory work and shaping our forward agenda. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these valuable discussions.
As we look ahead, I am encouraged by the momentum we’ve built together and inspired by the opportunities before us. I am confident that our shared commitment to strong governance, transparency, and collaboration across the sector will continue to drive positive outcomes for pension plan beneficiaries across Ontario.
Thank you for your continued engagement and partnership.
-- Andrew Fung, Executive Vice President, Pensions
FSRA reports
Q1 2026 Solvency Report for Defined Benefit Pension Plans
FSRA released its Q1 2026 Solvency Report for Defined Benefit Pension Plans, revealing that the median solvency ratio now stands at 122 percent as at March 31, 2026, down from 124 percent as at December 31, 2025.
To learn more, access the report.
Pension reminders
Review key information on your PSP profile prior to AIR filings
FSRA has launched a data clean-up initiative to strengthen the Pension Services Portal (PSP) and improve the accuracy and completeness of information submitted. This effort will help ensure timely, relevant reporting and better service to the sector.
As part of the process, we ask pension plan administrators to review, and update, if necessary, the following key information found on your PSP Pension Plan Profile and Plan Contacts, as shown in the chart below.
We ask that you review this information in advance of the next Annual Information Return (AIR) filing cycle, which are June 2026 for Defined Contribution plans and September 2026 for Defined Benefit plans.
| Key information | Location in PSP |
|---|---|
| Plan Sponsor/Administrator Name* | Plan Contacts and Plan Profile |
| Pension Plan Name* | Plan Profile |
| Plan Administrator Contact | Plan Contacts |
| Plan Administrator E-mail Address | Plan Contacts |
| Plan Administrator phone number | Plan Contacts |
| Any other Users (e.g., actuaries, lawyers etc.) and respective contact details | Plan Contacts |
*Changes to the plan sponsor, administrator and pension plan name fields must be filed as pension plan amendments.
Your support in confirming these details is essential, particularly where information may be outdated or incomplete. FSRA will track any changes made to these fields in PSP and provide a summary at the end of the review period. Going forward, FSRA encourages pension plan administrators to periodically review this information alongside their filings to ensure it remains up to date.
Review jurisdictional membership reporting in your AIR
FSRA is reminding pension plan administrators to ensure the accurate completion of the active membership section of the Annual Information Return (AIR).
Identified reporting issues
FSRA has identified recurring errors in AIR filings, including:
- the total number of active members in each jurisdiction being incorrectly reported in the “included employment” (federal) column of the AIR
- members in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) not being reported as federal members
Accurate reporting of members by jurisdiction is critical for regulatory oversight and coordination among pension regulators.
Federal jurisdiction – Clarification
Under the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (PBSA), pension plan members are subject to federal jurisdiction where their employment is in a federally regulated area of work (e.g., banking, telecommunications, interprovincial transportation).
All members whose employment is based in the Territories are considered federal members, regardless of employer or industry.
Also, as noted in the Instructions for Completing the AIR, the number of federal members is a subset of the total number of members in each jurisdiction.
Accordingly:
- members employed in provincially regulated employment must not be reported as federal members
- all members in the Territories must be reported in the federal membership column in the AIR
Administrator action required
Plan administrators are expected to:
- review jurisdictional active membership reporting in their AIRs that were filed in 2024 and onwards
- correct any misclassification of federal members
- amend previously filed AIRs where errors are identified
If you have questions regarding AIR membership reporting requirements, please contact [email protected].
See you at FSRA Exchange 2026 on May 25!
For those that have registered, we look forward to seeing you on May 25 at FSRA Exchange 2026. This year’s theme, Resilient by Design, brings together leading industry and regulatory voices to discuss today’s most pressing issues and the latest innovations in financial services. This year’s in-person event is your chance to connect, collaborate, and network with peers and the FSRA team.
Registration closed on May 7, 2026. View the full agenda and event details.
Pension updates
Retroactive Adverse Amendments update
As detailed in FSRA’s Pension Plan Amendment Guidance released in June 2024, retroactive amendments that could have a negative impact on plan members or beneficiaries (described in the guidance as “retroactive adverse amendments” or RAA), such as retroactive reductions in contribution rates, are generally not registerable under the PBA. However, FSRA may exercise discretion to register an amendment with retroactive and potentially negative impacts if:
- the negative retroactive impacts on the rights and benefits of plan members and beneficiaries are non-material
- these impacts are offset by considerations of transparency, reasonableness and equity
In June 2025, FSRA published its first anonymized summary of RAAs registered and not registered as of March 31, 2025, to help pension stakeholders understand how conclusions are reached while respecting confidentiality. FSRA has now published an update to the summary for RAAs reviewed between April 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025. During that period, FSRA reviewed 33 RAAs.
To learn more, view the retroactive adverse amendments summary.
Findings of our Actuarial Valuation Report reviews
Throughout the year, FSRA reviews a number of actuarial valuation reports (AVRs) to assess compliance with legislative and actuarial standards and provide information on filing trends. Our reviews are comprehensive, typically encompassing all sections of the report and including a series of reasonableness and consistency checks.
Overall, the most common issue identified over the last year was incorrect reporting of Incremental Cost (IC) in the Actuarial Information Summary. FSRA worked with plan administrators and actuaries to resolve these issues which resulted in the timely refiling of corrected AVRs. From a quantitative perspective, the sampled plans are generally well funded on a going‑concern, solvency, and windup basis. In addition, Provision for Adverse Deviation (PfAD) levels were reasonable relative to each plan's asset mix. Going‑concern discount rates used in the reports reviewed over 2025 were consistent with the findings outlined in FSRA’s 2024 Defined Benefit Funding Report.
Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund increased limits
The Government of Ontario has increased the monthly guarantee limit of the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) from $1,500 to $3,000 for PBGF-eligible pension plans. This increase is now in effect as of March 26, 2026, for pension plan wind-ups on and after that date.
The government is also consulting on proposed Regulations which would update the reporting requirements under Regulation 909 that would reflect this increased limit. The consultation notes that the proposed changes are targeted to come into force on July 1, 2026.
As a result of these changes and proposed updates to Regulation 909, administrators of PBGF-eligible pension plans should consider the following:
- Actual DB Windups: the new PBGF benefit coverage limit of $3,000 per month applies to any DB plan and combination DB/DC plan winding up with an effective date on and after March 26, 2026. Plan windups prior to that date are subject to the $1,500 per month PBGF benefit coverage limit.
- Actuarial Valuation Report filings: Any actuarial valuation report with an effective date on and after July 1, 2026 (the expected effective date of the applicable regulations) are expected to reflect the new PBGF benefit coverage limit of $3,000 per month, otherwise, they will be expected to reflect the prior $1,500 per month limit. In the event that the Regulations are not effective on July 1, 2026, FSRA would apply this same approach as of the actual effective date of the Regulations once filed.
- No changes are required to the existing PBGF Assessment Certificate Form or Actuarial Information Summary form as a result of this benefit coverage change.
Please contact FSRA through the Pension Services Portal if plan administrators have further questions on these changes.
Enhanced security for PSP
FSRA will be making the PSP more secure by adding CAPTCHA functionality during logging in. This will ensure no unauthorized login attempts in PSP. This feature will become active in June 2026.
ICYMI: Insights from FSRA’s Third Annual Pensions Sector Overview and Activities Report
FSRA published its 2025 Ontario Pensions Sector Annual Overview and Activities Report on April 21, 2026, providing an analysis on pension plans regulated by FSRA.
To learn more, access the report.