The clock is ticking on those who have not filed their Annual Information Return (AIR) and the consequences of missing the deadline can be severe.
Mortgage brokerages and administrators who fail to file by March 31 are subject to Summary Administrative Monetary Penalties and/or other enforcement action.
Filings include data for the previous calendar year. All brokerages and administrators must file the AIR, even if they did no business that year.
FSRA has committed to not changing the information collected through the AIR for the next three years. This will help reduce costs and regulatory burden. In addition, industry will be able to better plan for their filings.
AIR filings are important because they help FSRA understand the market, determine risks and trends and ensure compliance. This approach of continuous engagement with industry helps support transparency, professionalism and high standards of business conduct.
Non-compliances noted in 2020-2021 AIR filings and actions taken
The tables below highlight the compliance improvement work as well as enforcement actions taken against administrators and brokerages for the 2020 and 2021 filing periods.
Improvement in AIR filing rate
| 2020 AIR filing period | 2021 AIR filing period |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage Administrators |
The AIR filing compliance rate for the 2020 AIR was 86.4% on the due date of the AIR.
|
The AIR filing compliance rate for the 2021 AIR was 81.9% on the due date of the AIR.
|
| Mortgage Brokerages |
The AIR filing compliance rate for the 2020 AIR was 92% on the due date of the AIR.
|
The AIR filing compliance rate for the 2021 AIR was 87.6% on the due date of the AIR.
|
All late filers received a warning letter for contravening the filing requirements.
Results of Regulatory Efforts and Actions on AIR filings
| Mortgage Administrators | Mortgage Brokerages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Warning Letters issued for late filing of AIR (one or more years) | 7 | 10 | 28 | 15 |
| License Surrendering | 1 | 5 | 8 | 31 |
| Summary Administrative Monetary Penalties issued | - | 2 | - | 33[1] |
Next steps
We continue to review and take action as needed on the 2022 filings.
To avoid being subject to enforcement action, administrators and brokerages should ensure they meet their filing obligations and provide accurate information as soon as possible.[2]
[1] Market Conduct will revoke the licences of mortgage brokerages or administrators that fail to pay the Summary Administrative Monetary Penalties.
[2] In the summer of 2023, FSRA contacted 61 mortgage brokerages and 42 mortgage administrators with material year over year discrepancies in their AIRs to verify the accuracy of the data reported. 85% brokerages confirmed errors in their AIR entries while this percentage was over 78% for the administrators.