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Standing Technical Advisory Committee for Defined Benefit Single Employer Pension Plans (SEPP)

Meeting summary

Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2022
Time: 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Location: Videoconference

This summary sets out the key points discussed at the March 2, 2022, meeting.

Evolving defined benefits plan landscape

  • FSRA presented information on the evolving landscape for DB plans in Ontario and the PBGF. It was noted that recent legislative changes allowing certain Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) and Designated Plans to be exempt from the Pension Benefits Act has resulted in a drop in new plan registrations.

Inflation

  • The group discussed the article on inflation that FSRA recently published.

Survey feedback (FSRA and administrative errors)

  • FSRA shared feedback received from the technical advisory committees (TACs) from a recent survey conducted by FSRA.
  • Common administrative errors and the possibility of future FSRA guidance in the area was also discussed.

Amendment portal process

  • Changes to the amendments submission process (Form 1.1) will be released shortly and FSRA hopes it will allow for certain automated approvals on housekeeping type amendments. Online submission of Form 1.1. is strongly encouraged by FSRA. FSRA will provide training sessions for the industry.

Member engagement and communications

  • FSRA is working on a discussion paper on this topic, focusing on defined benefit plans.

FSRA Complaints Policy Framework

  • The Complaints Policy Framework has been released. FSRA’s next step is doing an analysis to determine what existing gaps exist in the complaint process for each sector. FSRA may contact a selection of plans of different sizes to better understand pension plans complaints handling processes, recognizing plans will have different processes.

Regulation 66/22

  • The Committee heard about recent regulatory changes to remove the requirement for DC plans to file a Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures (SIPP) as well as audited financial statements.

Form 7

  • FSRA received comments on technical issues with the updated Form 7 which have been rectified.

Draft principles based regulation guidance

  • As a principles-based regulator, FSRA will be releasing draft guidance shortly to consult on FSRA’s approach to principles-based regulation. There will be sector-specific consultations, as well as a public consultation.

PBGF calculations draft guidance

  • The group discussed the recent draft guidance FSRA released for comment on deadlines and calculation of PBGF assessments.

Other draft guidance documents

  • FSRA advised that it was not yet ready to release draft guidance documents Pension Plan Amendments: Effective Date, Indexation Formula & Notice, and Limitations on Commuted Value Transfers and Annuity Purchases (DB Pension Plans).

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for June 2022.

Attendance Record

Invited/Attended

Company Name

Attendance Status 
(A)ttended; (R)egrets; (S)ubstitute; (VC)Videoconference

Jennifer Rook

FSRA – Head, Pension Operations and Regulatory Effectiveness and Committee Co-Chair

VC

Mitch Frazer

Torys LLP and Committee Co-Chair

VC

Bill Watson

Mercer

VC

Brent Simmons

Sun Life

VC

Cathy MacDonald

Canada Life

VC

Clio Godkewitsch

Goldblatt Partners LLP

VC

Corey Vermey

Unifor

R

Earl Davis

N/A

VC

Jason Vary

Actuarial Solutions Inc

VC

Ken Eady

Sears Retiree Group

VC

Lilach Frenkel

Aon

VC

Lisa Mills

BMKP Law LLP

VC

Rohan Kumar

Willis Towers Watson

VC

Simon Nelson

Eckler Ltd.

VC

Steve Wilson

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

R

Tejash Modi

Morneau Shepell

VC

William Jones

Canadian Federation of Pensioners

VC

Andrew Fung,
Dillon De Coteau,
Jessie Heath-Rawlings, Jessica Ramdin,
Lester Wong, Mark Eagles, Mathew Ou,
Paul Martiniello, Reesha Hosein

FSRA

VC

Alex Killoch, Anna Strathy,
Krista Teichroeb, Vinod Armoogum

MOF

VC