Pooled Trust Account Reporting Requirement Changes

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Overview

Upcoming amendments to Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CDIC”) deposit insurance protection rules take effect on April 30, 2022. These changes will mean that professional trustees may be eligible to designate certain accounts at federally-regulated financial institutions as professional trustee accounts and benefit from streamlined information reporting requirements. Brokerages licensed under the Real Estate Services Act meet the definition of a professional trustee, as set out in the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation Act.

Under the CDIC rule amendments, eligible professional trustees will only need to provide beneficiary information to CDIC by request, rather than annually as is currently the case. To benefit from these changes, professional trustees must opt into the streamlined reporting requirements and attest annually to meeting eligibility requirements. If a professional trustee does not opt in or fails to meet its reporting requirements, its deposits will be treated as general trust accounts, meaning the detailed beneficiary information reporting requirements continue to apply.

Existing Requirements for Trust Account Reporting

Section 71 of the Rules mirrors current federal government rules governing deposit insurance protection for monies held in trust at CDIC member institutions. It requires brokerages to notify their financial institution, other than a credit union, that an account is a pooled trust account and to annually provide a list of beneficiaries of that account and the amount held on their behalf.

Section 81 of the Rules requires brokerages to maintain certain records in relation to pooled trust accounts, including a monthly trust liability and asset reconciliation that lists each trade in real estate in relation to which the brokerage holds the trust money and the amount being held in relation to each trade.

Proposed Rules Amendments and Rationale

The proposed amendments to the Rules would repeal section 71.

To view the amendments in more detail, please see the annotated Rules package.

Section 71 of the Real Estate Services Rules (“Rules”) unnecessarily duplicates current CDIC trust account reporting requirements. In brief, the monthly liability listing maintained under section 81 contains a more current version of the information reported annually under section 71.

Repealing section 71 will align the Rules with CDIC requirements, enabling brokerages to designate certain accounts as professional trustee accounts with their financial institution and benefit from the upcoming CDIC streamlined information reporting without decreasing the level of protection for real estate consumers.

Anticipated Effects of the New Rules

The proposed amendments would allow brokerages to take advantage of the upcoming CDIC rule amendments and designate their pooled trust accounts as professional trustee accounts with their financial institution. This would mean that brokerages would only need to provide beneficiary information to CDIC by request, rather than annually as is currently the case. Ultimately, this change will reduce unnecessary duplication between the Rules and CDIC’s rules.

Timeline

BCFSA anticipates that the Minister of Finance will decide on the proposed Rules this summer. If the Minister consents to the proposed Rules without conditions, they will likely come into force in late summer or early fall.