News

November 1, 2022 - As first announced on August 25, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is now seeking input from stakeholders and the public in relation to its organizational governance. This consultation is focussed on understanding how OBSI’s board can best ensure that it has the opportunity to consider the perspectives of stakeholders with financial service industry expertise and consumer advocacy expertise in its decision making. OBSI is committed to ensuring a deep knowledge of these perspectives at the board level because they are crucial to ensuring that the organization is able to continue to fulfil its mission of helping to ensure a fair, effective and trusted financial services sector. OBSI’s last public consultation on governance reform took place in 2012.

October 26, 2022 - Today, OBSI provided its response to the recommendations included in the 2021 independent evaluations of its investment and banking mandates.

Mr. F was a healthcare professional and wanted to invest his savings. He was contacted online by someone who claimed to represent online investment company Firm X. The representative said the firm offered investing opportunities with high returns and advisory services to help investors.

Participating firm fees are set annually by the OBSI Board of Directors in accordance with our corporate Bylaw. As a not-for-profit organization, participating firm fees fund all our operations and are set on a cost-recovery basis.

Toronto, October 6, 2022 – The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is pleased to announce the launch of a new interactive digital information tool called Data Cube. The Data Cube provides at-a-glance access to current and historical information about OBSI’s case experience and outcomes in an open and accessible visual format that allows users to interact with and filter data by date range, product, issue, industry, or firm. This new online tool provides information previously disclosed in OBSI’s annual report.

Toronto, September 1, 2022 – Today, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) released the results of its 2021 independent evaluation of its operations and practices for banking related complaints. OBSI undertakes independent expert evaluations of its operations every five years.

August 25, 2022 - The Board of Directors for the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) announced that it has begun a strategic review of its governance structure with plans for public consultation in the late fall.

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring news about case volumes rising, investor decisions during market volatility, changes to the Bank Act, and more.

OBSI’s Terms of Reference have recently been updated to reflect changes to the Bank Act consumer protection framework that came into force on June 30. The Bank Act now requires federally regulated banks’ internal dispute resolution process to deal with a consumer’s complaint within 56 days (previously it was 90 days).

All investors should understand that higher potential investment returns come with a higher risk of investment losses, but most people find it much easier to consider potential investment gains than to deal with investment losses. Before committing to any investment plan with medium-to-high expected returns, consider: If your investments were to lose half their value, how would you feel? How would your short- and long-term financial well-being be impacted? Could you stick to your plan? Discuss these issues with your advisor to help them understand your risk tolerance.