The Canadian federal government is taking measures to increase oversight on pension insurance through legislative changes.
The draft 2023 budget has been modified to require federally regulated pension funds to report their cryptocurrency investments to the Office of the Governor of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
Additionally, provincial administrations are required to aid OSFI in disclosing similar investments from locally regulated funds.
The government cites recent incidents from trading platforms such as FTX and Signature Bank, as well as the volatility of crypto assets, as posing a risk to national security, financial well-being, and the global financial system’s stability and integrity.
To address these concerns, the government plans to broaden OSFI’s mandate to assess whether federally regulated financial institutions have sufficient policies in place to safeguard against foreign interference, giving the regulator more authority to intervene when national financial security is at stake.
Canada’s largest pension fund, which manages over $382 billion of client funds, discontinued its exploration of cryptocurrency investment opportunities at the end of 2022.
The Ontario Teachers’ Retirement Plan Board wrote off its $95 million investment due to issues with a bankrupt trading company, FTX platform.