The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario published its March 2026 pensions update, reporting that defined benefit pension plan funding levels remained stable and setting out several supervisory and filing expectations for administrators. The Q4 2025 Solvency Report puts the median solvency ratio at 124% as at 31 December 2025, unchanged from the prior quarter, and the update notes that FSRA’s Supervisory Approach Guidance for implementing the target benefit multi-employer pension plan framework is now final and in force. Effective 2 February 2026, the target benefit guidance describes how FSRA will review and approve conversions from defined benefits to target benefits, assess whether a plan’s Provision for Adverse Deviation aligns with its funding and benefits policy, and supervise target benefit plans through reviews, risk assessments and ongoing engagement. FSRA also updated key family law valuation forms and its marriage breakdown guide to add target benefit pension plan references. On administration and compliance, FSRA reiterated that amendments seeking to cease contributions, including amendments linked to wind ups and asset transfers, are treated as adverse and must be filed before they take effect, and it reminded plans considering contribution holidays that Form 7 must be filed at the start of each fiscal year and a prescribed cost certificate is due within the first 90 days of the fiscal year with no extension available under Regulation 909. The reassessed available actuarial surplus cannot exceed the amount disclosed in the most recently filed actuarial valuation report, adjusted for amounts already funded from surplus, and plans with an “excess surplus” for Income Tax Act purposes still need to meet Regulation 909 requirements. Following a targeted review, FSRA also reiterated that incremental costs in the Actuarial Information Summary should be reported on Line 101 as an annual average over the reporting period, not as a cumulative amount. FSRA also launched a Pension Services Portal data clean-up initiative asking administrators to verify and, where needed, update plan profile and contact details, while noting that changes to plan sponsor or administrator and plan name fields must be filed as plan amendments. Administrators are asked to complete the review before the next Annual Information Return filing cycles in June 2026 for defined contribution plans and September 2026 for defined benefit plans, after which FSRA will provide a summary of recorded changes. A review of more than 100 Investment Information Summary filings for defined benefit plans also found that most had significant discrepancies versus pension financial statements. The update points users to an updated Plan Wind Ups and Surplus Applications webpage and flags that a Q1 2026 defined benefit solvency report is forthcoming.
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario 2026-03-03
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario reports DB pension median solvency ratio at 124% and finalises target benefit MEPP supervisory guidance
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario's March 2026 pensions update reports stable funding levels for defined benefit pension plans, with a median solvency ratio of 124% as of 31 December 2025. The update finalizes the Supervisory Approach Guidance for target benefit multi-employer pension plans, detailing conversion reviews, risk assessments, and compliance expectations. FSRA also initiated a Pension Services Portal data clean-up and found discrepancies in Investment Information Summary filings for defined benefit plans.