Actuarial guide revisions

On December 20, 2019, OSFI issued a draft revised Instruction Guide for the Preparation of Actuarial Reports for Defined Benefit Pension Plans (Actuarial Guide) for consultation with pension plan stakeholders. The consultation period was suspended because of COVID-19. OSFI initiated a new consultation period on September 11, 2020 that ended on October 9, 2020. We would like to thank everyone who provided input on the draft revisions.

OSFI will post shortly the updated Actuarial Guide and a non-attributed summary of comments received along with our responses on OSFI’s website; however, changes to the section on Alternative Settlement Methods that have an impact on solvency liabilities of plans using a replicating portfolio approach will be finalized at a later date.

The Actuarial Guide, which was last revised in October 2017, sets out the reporting requirements of actuarial reports filed with OSFI for defined benefit pension plans, including those with a defined contribution component.

The draft revisions to the Actuarial Guide provide further details regarding OSFI's expectations for actuarial reports. The revisions include the following:

• Additional requirements with respect to
  • plans that have a flexible benefits feature;
  • the discount rate assumption, including a modification to the maximum going concern discount rate; and
  • risk assessments performed by plan administrators to inform better risk management
• Further clarifications of OSFI's position on mortality assumptions
• Updated requirements for plans using a replicating portfolio approach
• Further disclosure requirements with respect to membership data and when stochastic modeling is used for determining the indexation rate
• Greater clarity on other expectations and the addition of some references to legislation and guidance material
• Changes to accepted actuarial practice and other issues, if any, that have emerged since October 2017