On February 11, 2022, the Government of Ontario made regulatory amendments to remove these requirements for plan administrators of Defined Contribution pension plans:

  • prepare a statement of investment policies and procedures and disclose information about it in member statements, if all the investments are directed by the member, and
  • file an auditor’s report on the plan’s annual financial statements, regardless of plan assets. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) is still able to request audited financial statements in certain circumstances.

You can view the regulatory amendment here.

As a reminder, in 2020, FSRA raised the threshold for pension plans requiring audited financial statements from $3 million to $10 million. Thus, plans with assets under $10 million have had the option to audit at their discretion. With the new amendment, regardless of plan size it’s up to plan administrators to decide if they still want to have their plan’s financial statements audited.  

Is this change applicable to hybrid plans?

FSRA hasn’t confirmed if this change is applicable to hybrid plans. Once this information is available, we’ll advise you.

What is the approach going forward? 

For the time being, we’ll continue to support audit requests as we do today. It’ll be at each plan administrator’s discretion to decide if they still want to have their plan’s financial statements audited.

Are there any actions required?

You should consider if any of your plans meet the amendment criteria. If yes, you are no longer required to prepare a SIPP or file an auditor’s report for the plan’s financial statements.

Questions?

Please contact your Sun Life Group Retirement Services representative.