OSFI announces regulatory flexibility to support COVID-19 efforts

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Mar 27, 2020

On March 27, 2020, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) announced a series of regulatory adjustments to support the financial and operational resilience of federally regulated banks, insurers and private pension plans. This includes adjusting a number of regulatory capital, liquidity and reporting requirements.

These measures, along with the delays of previously planned regulatory changes, are designed to help reduce some of the operational stress on institutions. They also ensure that OSFI’s guidance is appropriate for these extraordinary circumstances while remaining risk-focused and forward-looking.

In addition to these regulatory adjustments, OSFI provided application guidance on three aspects of accounting for ECL in extraordinary circumstances: significant increase in credit risk, reasonable and supportable forward-looking information, and disclosure. This guidance is consistent with the requirements in IFRS 9 and should be considered along with the guidance provided by the IASB on the application of the standard in relation to COVID-19.

Review the press release and guidance on the OSFI's website.

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