Superintendent of Financial Institutions Peter Routledge presented a renewed OSFI focus on integrity and security, including consideration of foreign interference, and what it will mean for federally regulated financial institutions (FIs). He defined the new role as supervising FIs to determine if they have adequate policies and procedures in place to protect themselves against threats to their integrity and security. The superintendent indicated this oversight will be an ongoing, annual process.

Routledge clarified the meaning of “integrity” and “security”, emphasizing their critical role to maintaining the soundness of the financial system, and public confidence therein. He stressed that this is not an entirely new role for the regulator, but a reorganization of a number of non-financial risks, supervision of which had been added to OSFI’s mandate over the last 15 years. 

During a fireside chat with GRI’s Sonia Baxendale, Routledge expressed confidence that the resilience of the system has improved since the financial crisis, and that there are strong buffers in place to withstand “a lot of bad news”.