Regulations Amending the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (Persons who Cannot be Located): SOR/2026-62

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 160, Number 7

Registration
SOR/2026-62 March 30, 2026

PENSION BENEFITS STANDARDS ACT, 1985

P.C. 2026-277 March 30, 2026

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (Persons who Cannot be Located) under subsections 10.3(3.2) to (3.4)^{footnote a} and (4)^{footnote b} and paragraphs 39(1)(c.4)^{footnote c} and (o) of the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 ^{footnote d}.

Regulations Amending the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (Persons who Cannot be Located)

Amendments

1 The long title of the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 ^{footnote 1} is replaced by the following:

Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985

2 Section 1 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.

3 The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 10:

Transfer of Assets — Person Who Cannot be Located

10.01 For the purposes of subsection 10.3(3.2) of the Act, the following persons are prescribed:

• (a) the person whose pension benefit credit relates to the transferred assets; and
• (b) if that person is deceased,
  • (i) their survivor, if there is one,
  • (ii) if there is no survivor, the person’s designated beneficiary, and
  • (iii) if there is neither a survivor nor a designated beneficiary, the executor of the person’s will, the administrator of their estate or the liquidator of their succession on behalf of the estate or succession.

10.02 For the purposes of subsection 10.3(3.3) of the Act, the prescribed information that must be provided to the designated entity is

• (a) in respect of the relevant person who cannot be located,
  • (i) their name and the name of their spouse, common-law partner and designated beneficiary, if any, listed on the records of the administrator,
  • (ii) their postal and email addresses listed on the records of the administrator,
  • (iii) their date of birth, and
  • (iv) their social insurance number;
• (b) the date on which the person became a member of the pension plan or, if any of their benefits under the plan accrued under any other pension plan, the date on which the benefits started to accrue;
• (c) the date on which the person ceased to accrue pension benefits;
• (d) the date of the transfer of assets;
• (e) the amount transferred;
• (f) the name and registration number of the pension plan at the date of the transfer;
• (g) the names of the employers that contributed to the pension plan in respect of the person and, if any of the person’s benefits under the plan accrued under any other pension plan, the names of the employers that contributed to fund the benefits; and
• (h) the name and address, at the date of transfer, of the administrator of the pension plan from which the assets are transferred or, if the trustee or custodian of the pension fund has been approved by the Superintendent to make the transfer, the name and address, at the date of transfer, of the trustee or custodian of the pension fund from which the assets are transferred.

10.03 For the purposes of subsection 10.3(3.4) of the Act, the prescribed information that the designated entity may publish is

• (a) the name of the person who cannot be located;
• (b) the person’s postal and email addresses listed on the records of the administrator;
• (c) the date on which the person became a member of the pension plan or, if any of their benefits under the plan accrued under any other pension plan, the date on which the benefits started to accrue;
• (d) the date on which the person ceased to accrue pension benefits;
• (e) the date of transfer of assets;
• (f) the amount transferred;
• (g) the name and registration number of the pension plan at the date of the transfer; and
• (h) the names of the employers that contributed to the pension plan in respect of the person and, if any of the person’s benefits under the plan accrued under any other pension plan, the names of the employers that contributed to fund the benefits.

10.04 For the purposes of subsection 10.3(4) of the Act, the prescribed period of time is

• (a) 30 years, if the amount transferred is under $1,000; and
• (b) 100 years in any other case.

Coming into Force

4 These Regulations come into force on the day on which section 142 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, chapter 23 of the Statutes of Canada, 2021, comes into force, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

Under the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (PBSA), plan administrators have a fiduciary duty to ensure that each plan beneficiary is paid the pension benefits to which they are entitled. So long as the obligation to provide benefits is unsatisfied, unclaimed pension balances can remain as plan liabilities indefinitely. This can prevent terminated plans from fully winding up and cause the plans to incur expenses to continue administering the unclaimed balances. Additionally, owners of unclaimed pension balances can have difficulties tracking down their pension funds, especially if the employer that used to administer the plan has ceased to exist and/or the plan has been terminated.

Background

The PBSA and the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (the Regulations) apply to pension plans that are linked to employment that falls under federal jurisdiction, such as work in connection with navigation and shipping, banking, interprovincial transportation and communications, employment in certain federal Crown corporations, and all private sector employment in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Approximately 7% of private pension plans in Canada are federally regulated. The remaining 93% are provincially regulated. The PBSA and the Regulations do not apply to the federal public service, Canadian Forces or Royal Canadian Mounted Police pension plans.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is responsible for the supervision of federally regulated pension plans under the PBSA. Plan administrators are responsible for the administration of their pension plan and for ensuring that their plan complies with the PBSA and the Regulations, and with the terms of the plan.

Federally regulated pension plans are typically either defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC). Under a DB plan, employers and employees contribute to the plan and plan members receive a set level of regular payments from the plan after they retire until they die, usually based on their salary and years of service. Under a DC plan, employer and employee (if any) contributions are usually a fixed percentage of salary, and the account balance at retirement is determined based on accumulated contributions and investment income.

Certain financial products can become considered unclaimed, such as bank accounts that have not been used for a period of time, and are transferred to the Bank of Canada’s unclaimed deposits program. As part of Budget 2021, the Government announced it was expanding the scope of the program and introduced legislative amendments to clarify existing provisions in section 10.3 of the PBSA regarding the unclaimed pension balances of individuals who cannot be located.

Unclaimed pension balances arise when a pension benefit is supposed to be paid under the terms of a plan or legislation, but the person entitled to the benefit has not claimed it and cannot be located. Unclaimed pension balances may arise when a plan is terminated or when the plan is required to start making payments to a beneficiary.^{footnote 2}

Unclaimed pension balances most frequently arise when the beneficiaries are “unlocatable” (i.e. the plan administrator does not have their current contact information) and therefore cannot be informed or reminded that they are entitled to their pension benefits. As plan administrators have a fiduciary duty to ensure that each plan beneficiary is paid the pension benefits to which they are entitled, unclaimed pension balances can remain as plan liabilities indefinitely. This can prevent terminated plans from fully winding up and cause the plan to incur continued administrative expenses. In addition, in the instances where the plan has been terminated or the employer no longer exists, owners of unclaimed pension balances can face difficulty tracking down their pension funds.

Pension plans do not specifically publicly report their number of unclaimed pension balances or unlocatable beneficiaries. It is estimated that there are currently more than 500 unclaimed pension balances in terminated federally regulated plans with an estimated value of $10 million, and approximately 25% of terminated plans consist wholly of the unclaimed pension balances of unlocatable beneficiaries.

The PBSA contains provisions in section 10.3 regarding the unclaimed pension balances of individuals who cannot be located. In the Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, which received royal assent on June 29, 2021, legislative amendments were introduced to

• clarify that the Minister of Finance may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, designate an entity for the pension assets related to the pension benefit credit, rather than the pension benefit credit, of a person who cannot be located;
• provide that transfers of unclaimed pensions to the designated entity cannot occur without the authorization of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions;
• provide that a transfer of pension assets (including a portion of any plan surplus), related to a person who cannot be located, to the designated entity satisfies the obligation of the plan to provide a pension benefit to that person;
• establish that prescribed persons may make a claim for payment of a lump sum from the designated entity in respect of pension assets that were transferred to the designated entity;
• require plan administrators to disclose prescribed information (e.g. name of the beneficiary and spouse or common-law partner, date of birth and address on the record of the administrator) to the designated entity;
• allow for the designated entity to publish prescribed information related to the unclaimed pension balances it holds; and
• provide regulatory-making authority for the administering of unclaimed pension assets.

Objective

• The objectives of the amendments are to safeguard unclaimed pension balances received by the Bank of Canada from terminated federally regulated pension plans and facilitate these funds being claimed by their owners.

Description

The amendments set out the information associated with unclaimed pension balances of unlocatable beneficiaries that the plan administrators must provide to the designated entity, which will be the Bank of Canada, at the time of transfer. This includes information such as the name, address, date of birth and social insurance number of the unlocatable beneficiary. The amendments also set out the information the Bank of Canada can publish on a public database to facilitate the search for unclaimed pension assets. The amendments allow the Bank of Canada to publish the last known name and address of the unlocatable beneficiary, the name and registration number of the pension plan, as well as the market value of the transferred assets. The transfer and publication of personal information of the unlocatable beneficiary pose a low legal risk and is vital to the integrity and operation of the framework, as it would assist individuals to identify their forgotten funds. The information that will be published by the Bank of Canada is also consistent with the existing unclaimed properties program it administers.

Further, the amendments specify who qualifies as an eligible claimant of unclaimed pension assets and establish the period for how long the Bank of Canada can administer the unclaimed assets before the funds are transferred to the Crown. Eligible claimants of the unclaimed pension assets include the owner of the balance, any agent or mandatary of the owner of the balance, and survivors or designated beneficiaries of the owner of the balance should they be deceased. The prescription period for unclaimed pension balances is 30 years for balances under $1,000 and 100 years for balances over $1,000, which aligns with the unclaimed deposits program timelines.

Regulatory development

Consultation

From June to August 2018, the Department of Finance (the Department) conducted a public consultation soliciting Canadians’ views on proposals for the overall unclaimed pension balances framework for a period of 60 days. The Department received written submissions from over 20 stakeholder groups, including plan sponsors, labour groups, retirees and pension industry experts. There was broad support across stakeholder groups, and no major concerns were raised regarding the proposed framework.

On July 24, 2023, the amendments were prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, for a 30-day consultation period. The Department received comments from 10 stakeholders from industry associations, pension sponsors, pension plan administrators and labour groups.

Stakeholders were supportive of the amendments.

Indigenous engagement, consultation and modern treaty obligations

Following the completion of the assessment of modern treaty implications, no adverse impacts on potential or established Indigenous or treaty rights, which are recognized and affirmed in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, were identified.

Instrument choice

Budget 2021 introduced legislative amendments to clarify aspects of the unclaimed pension balances framework. The amendments are required to operationalize the legislative amendments. Therefore, no other instruments were considered.

Regulatory analysis

Benefits and costs

Benefits

The amendments help to safeguard unclaimed pension balances received from terminated federally regulated pension plans and facilitate these funds being claimed by their owners. The amendments allow plan administrators of terminated federally regulated pension plans to transfer unclaimed pension balances of unlocatable beneficiaries to the Bank of Canada as a lump sum and fully wind-up. In addition, the amendments authorize the Bank of Canada to publish information regarding unclaimed pension balances on the public database until the balance is claimed or transferred to the government, which will enable Canadians to search for their unclaimed pensions and for eligible individuals to claim their funds from the Bank of Canada.

Costs

The amendments do not impose any significant costs on pension plan sponsors, administrators, members or retirees. There are no incremental costs for OSFI associated with the amendments. The Bank of Canada will incur start-up costs of close to one million dollars to onboard the system with significantly lower ongoing costs once the system is operational.

The one-time cost of transferring unclaimed assets from terminated federally regulated pension plans to the Bank of Canada would vary. Nevertheless, this will overall benefit terminated plans, as it would allow them to stop maintaining these balances and to fully wind-up. In terms of the requirement for the terminated plans to provide the Bank of Canada with the information related to the unclaimed assets to the extent it is known, the cost to fulfill the requirement should be low given that the information would be on file and readily available.

Small business lens

Analysis under the small business lens concluded that the amendments do not impact Canadian small businesses. The amendments change rules applicable to terminated federally regulated private sector and Crown corporation pension plans. None of the applicable plans are offered by small businesses.

One-for-one rule

The one-for-one rule does not apply, as there is no incremental change in the administrative burden on business and no regulatory titles are repealed or introduced.

Information that is provided to the Bank of Canada is done so with the intent of making it easier for a beneficiary to find and claim their funds and not for the purpose of confirmation of compliance with regulatory requirements; therefore, this does not meet the definition of administrative burden as per the Red Tape Reduction Act.

Regulatory cooperation and alignment

The amendments are not part of a formal regulatory cooperation initiative; however, the amendments align with certain provincial regulations.

Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia and New Brunswick currently have frameworks in place to address unclaimed pension balances. The frameworks in Quebec, Alberta, and New Brunswick apply to ongoing and terminated plans, while the one in British Columbia is available to terminated plans only.

International obligations

The amendments are not subject to obligations in Canada’s international trade agreements.

Effects on the environment

In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals, a preliminary scan concluded that a strategic environmental assessment is not required.

Gender-based analysis plus

The amendments would benefit workers and pensioners with unclaimed pension balances in terminated federally regulated pension plans. Workers and pensioners with federally regulated pension plans belong to particular age ranges (i.e. working age and seniors) and have above-average incomes and educational attainment.

Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards

Implementation

The amendments come into force on the day sections 141 and 142 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, chapter 23 of the Statutes of Canada, 2021 come into force, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered. Sections 141 and 142 come into force on January 1, 2027. The Order in Council to provide the Minister with the authority to designate the Bank of Canada comes into force the day it is made.

OSFI supervises federally regulated private pension plans and ensures they are in compliance with the PBSA, the Regulations and other regulations made under the PBSA, including the amendments. OSFI’s Superintendent is required to report to Parliament on the operations of the PBSA annually.

Contact

Kathleen Wrye
Director Pensions Policy
Financial Crimes and Security Division
Department of Finance
90 Elgin Street, 13th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G5
Email: re-pension@fin.gc.ca