Insurance industry watchdogs

Question: I keep reading about the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and its role as watchdog of the insurance industry. Can you tell me more? – J.J.

Answer:

Actually, it does a lot more than that. To quote from their web site, OSFI is “the primary regulator of federally chartered financial institutions and federally administered pension plans. OSFI’s mission is to safeguard policyholders, depositors and pension plan members from undue loss. OSFI supervises and regulates all banks, and all federally incorporated or registered trust and loan companies, insurance companies, cooperative credit associations, fraternal benefit societies and pension plans.”

You can find out everything you want to know (and a lot more) by taking a trip through their web site at http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/eng/. But be warned: this is a massive site, with a lot of detailed statistical and financial data that may not be of interest to the average Web traveler. But it’s nice to know it’s there if you want it.

You=ll find a great deal of information regarding the inrance industry, but you may have to dig deep for material of specific interest to you.

Two sections to note are For Consumers and Subscribe. For Consumers has current consumer protection information, and keeps readers abreast of scams afflicting our communities. If you want to be notified via E-mail of changes to the site, just subscribe. – G.P.N.