FSRA meets or exceeds service standards in Q4

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) met or exceeded its performance targets for service in the fourth quarter of 2022–23, the regulator said in a report on Wednesday that included the regulator’s score on service standards for insurance and title protection complaints.

In addition to complaints handling, the quarterly report on service standards measures activities in such areas as regulatory applications. Overall, the regulator met or exceeded service targets for 97% of its standards, the report said.

For acknowledging market conduct complaints in writing within three business days, FSRA’s score was 99%, surpassing its 90% target.

The regulator receives about 1,300 public complaints yearly across the sectors it regulates, Wendy Horrobin, head of licensing and risk assessment with FSRA, said when she spoke at the Independent Financial Brokers spring summit in May.

For life insurance complaints specifically, FSRA’s performance score on assessing and acting on the complaints within 120 days was 92% (and 100% within 270 days).

For title protection complaints, the score was 100%. The number of complaints was not provided. Protection of “financial advisor” and “financial planner” in Ontario is little more than a year old, with a transition period for those who used the titles before 2020.

FSRA doesn’t oversee the conduct of credential holders; credentialing bodies do that. Rather, the regulator investigates complaints related to approved credentialing bodies or organizations claiming to be approved credentialing bodies.

FSRA also investigates complaints of title use without an approved credential.

FSRA’s first round of examining credentialing bodies will begin this summer, Horrobin said at the IFB event. “We will be looking to ensure that all the things they told us they were doing, they’re actually doing,” she said, referring to their obligations under the title protection framework.

Michelle Schriver

Michelle is Advisor.ca’s managing editor. She has worked with the team since 2015 and been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and SABEW for her reporting. Email her at michelle@newcom.ca.