Document Properties
- Type of Publication: Letter
- Date: February 11, 2008
- Reference: Guideline
for Banks / BHC / FBB / T&L / Co-op / Life / P&C / IHC
- To: Federally Regulated Entities
OSFI has released the final version of Guideline E-17 – Background
Checks on Directors and Senior Management of FREs, which sets
out principles to assist FREs in the establishment of policies and
procedures to conduct assessments of the suitability and integrity
of their directors and senior management. While FREs already have
varying policies and procedures to assess the suitability and integrity
of their Responsible Persons, this Guideline seeks to ensure that
such practices are sufficiently robust across FREs.
The proposed framework will help ensure that OSFI guidance remains
consistent with international developments. Several international
organizations, including the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision,
the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the Financial
Action Task Force on Money Laundering, have issued core principles
and recommendations that require directors and senior officers of
financial institutions to be regularly evaluated with respect to
suitability and integrity. These requirements represent an internationally
accepted benchmark of minimum supervisory standards against which
the quality of a country’s prudential supervision system can be
measured and assessed. Regulators in other comparable jurisdictions
have either issued guidance on, or have procedures in place relating
to, the assessment of the suitability and integrity of directors
and senior officers of regulated entities.
This final Guideline includes the following changes from the draft
version posted on May 30, 2007:
- Rather than requiring FREs to conduct searches of civil proceedings,
attestation from a Responsible Person that the Responsible Person
has not been held liable in any civil proceeding related to financial
or business misconduct, fraud or mismanagement will be sufficient
to meet the requirements of the Guideline; and
- In order to provide additional clarity, the title of the Guideline
has been changed from “Assessments of Responsible Persons
by FREs” to “Background Checks on Directors and Senior
Management of FREs”.
There is a one year transition period for compliance with the
final guideline. As such, all FREs are expected to be compliant
by January 31, 2009.
Questions concerning the final guideline should be addressed to
Laural Ross by telephone at (613) 990-6972, by email at laural.ross@osfi-bsif.gc.ca,
or by facsimile at (613) 998-6716.
This Guideline is available in English and French on OSFI’s Web
site (http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca)
under the Publications section. This Guideline may also be obtained
by contacting
Mr. Stéphane Dupel, General Services Division, by e-mail at pub@osfi-bsif.gc.ca or by
facsimile at (613) 954-4331.
- Robert Hanna
- Assistant Superintendent
- Regulation Sector