FSRA proposes fees for title regulation

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) is proposing a new fee model to finance its framework for regulating the use of the “financial planner” and “financial advisor” titles.

FSRA launched a consultation on the proposed approach to levying fees on credentialing bodies to cover the initial and ongoing costs of overseeing the regulated titles.

“These include costs related to supervising and monitoring credentialing bodies, handling complaints, and other activities to support the framework,” the regulator said in a notice.

The proposed model for setting the fees that credentialing bodies will be required to pay to “obtain and maintain approval” under the new regime include initial application fees and an annual assessment consisting of fixed and variable charges, and a fee to recover startup costs.

FSRA is proposing a $10,000 fee for the initial approval of a credentialing body, and $5,000 for each credential application.

It’s also proposing a fixed $25,000 annual fee per credentialing body, plus a variable component to help cover the estimated $1.1 million annual cost to oversee the regime.

The initial startup costs are estimated at approximately $3.1 million, which the regulator proposes to recover over five years, allocating startup costs among credentialing bodies based on their share of the total number of credential holders in the sector.

The proposal is out for comment until Oct. 20.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.