Innovation Office | Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario

Innovation is key to a vibrant Ontario financial services sector.

Let’s create the future of financial services together!

FSRA’s Innovation Office is here to enable responsible innovation in Ontario’s financial services sector. We help innovators overcome barriers to introduce innovative services and products to the market.

Innovation requires collaboration. Let’s start the dialogue on how we can work together to support the development of an innovation-friendly, sustainable, accessible market for financial services. Contact us today.

Video Descriptive Transcript - FSRA’s Innovation Office

Innovation Framework

The Innovation Framework sets clear expectations and guiding principles to help you bring innovative products to market in a sustainable, responsible and accessible way. The framework is in place to make it easier for you to propose new ideas, products and services while maintaining consumer confidence in financial services.

Opportunities reports

The Innovation Office held consultations with stakeholders in the mortgage brokering and insurance sectors to seek input on innovation opportunities and regulatory barriers to innovation. These consultations have been summarized in the following reports:

Test and Learn Environments (TLEs) for Financial Services Innovation

TLE Approach Guidance

In January 2022, FSRA released the Approach Guidance on the Test and Learn Environments (TLEs). The guidance is as a tool to support market-driven innovation in the sectors FSRA regulates. FSRA’s TLEs align with our principle-based regulation commitment through:

data/evidence-based policy and decision-making
when assessing innovation opportunities (new products, services, or business models) proposed by market participants, FSRA will provide timely, adaptive, and proportionate regulatory response

The TLE Guidance is set up in a way that allows sector-specific customization while maintaining consistency in how tests can be set up and conducted across all applicable sectors. Specific testing “vehicles” and mechanisms customized for different sectors and objectives are under the main Guidance as appendices.

Read more about FSRA’s Territories TLE

Hear what Glen Padassery, Executive Vice President, Policy, had to say about FSRA’s TLE at the 2022 Advocis Regulatory Affairs Symposium.

Video Descriptive Transcript - 2022 Advocis Regulatory Affairs Symposium (Glen Padassery, Executive Vice President, Policy)

Market participants applying to the TLE must:

Follow the corresponding appendix
Use the designated application form
Email the completed application package to [email protected].

Current appendices and forms include:

Technical Information and Specifications for TLEs (Multi-sectoral)
Guide to Applications for Auto Insurance Exemptive Authority TLE (Auto Insurance)
- Intake Form for Auto Insurance Exemptive Authority TLE (PDF)
Guide to TLE applications requesting FSRA exercise regulatory discretion
- Intake Form for requesting FSRA exercise regulatory Discretion (PDF)

The TLE Guidance was open for public consultation from January to December 2022.

Additional resources

Video Descriptive Transcript - FSRA's Innovation Office

FSRA's Innovation Office

Video duration: 01:43
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Video copy: Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)
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Video copy: Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA). Autorité ontarienne de réglementation des services financiers (ARSF).
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Video Descriptive Transcript - 2022 Advocis Regulatory Affairs Symposium (Glen Padassery, Executive Vice President, Policy)

Glen Padassery
00:08 There are a couple of ways that we can support Test and Learn Environments. We can exercise discretion. So the regulator can actually choose to think about how the rules are being applied and essentially say we're going to relax how we're going to look at those rules for a short period of time, time limited, capped at a certain number of people, capped at a certain length of time, capped at a certain environment, and we're going to understand with data and analytics what it means and what the outcomes were. The other way we can do that is the government, and we worked very closely with the government on this, can give or afford what's called exempt of authority. So it actually puts into legislation, the ability for the regulator to relax or hold back requirements in certain circumstances, and that's what we have right now with the Auto Insurance Test and Learn. And so those are the two main ways we can do it. But effectively, we're trying to be flexible in our approach. And so part of the Test and Learn Environment is really about the conversation where we may find something doesn't work in the ways that we think about, we can go back to the government and say, "This is a really great idea. We want to actually support it. Can you give us the tools to do so?" Or we can work with our legal department to say, "How can we facilitate this for a short period of time?" and come back with some results that actually make a difference.