How OBSI determines and charges fees to participating firms
OBSI is a not-for-profit organization that operates on a cost-recovery basis.
OBSI's budget and the allocation of this budget between the different industry sectors that use OBSI's services is approved by OBSI's Board of Directors each September. This allocation is founded on the principle that no one sector or registrant category should subsidize another.
For fee purposes, OBSI has five industry sectors:
- Banks and other federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs);
- Investment firms that are members of Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), which include investment dealers and mutual fund dealers;
- Investment firms that are not members of CIRO, which includes portfolio managers (PMs), exempt market dealers (EMDs), Restricted Portfolio Managers, Restricted Dealers and Investment Fund Managers (IFMs);
- Scholarship plan dealers (SPDs); and
- Provincial credit unions.
Sector Allocation
The allocation of the budget among the five industry sectors is based on the total number and complexity of the cases opened for each sector in the previously completed year.
Once the budget has been allocated to each sector, fees for each firm in the sector are determined. This determination is made on the basis of firm size as described below.
Bank fees
For banks and other FRFIs, the banking sector allocation is divided among institutions on the basis of each firm’s size and complaint volumes.
For each institution, fees will be assessed 25% on the basis of the bank’s asset size relative to other institutions and 75% on its complaint volumes in the preceding three-year period relative to other banks.
Banks and FRFIs with three-year average case volumes of less than one complaint per year are charged a flat annual minimum fee.