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Mr. Z was concerned that his Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) earned very little interest due to low interest rates at the time and decided to look for better investment options. He sought the help of Mr. F, a registered investment advisor, to explore investment products that could provide a higher rate of return. Mr. Z wanted his investments to grow over the long term. He had a low tolerance for risk and no immediate need for the money in his investments. To guide their discussion, Mr. F documented Mr. Z's investment goals and risk preferences in his file.

Toronto, June 26, 2023 – The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) today announced the changes to its organizational governance following its public consultation on governance from November 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023.

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring our Q1 case statistics, an RRSP case study, new videos and more.

Click here to read OBSI e-news: Q1/2023.

Ms. Q returned to Canada from living abroad. To re-establish her credit history, she applied for and received a prepaid credit card, which held a cash balance and was widely accepted. She used this card to pay bills and make online purchases, such as groceries. The mobile app associated with Ms. Q’s prepaid credit card allowed her to easily add funds to her account, monitor her spending and review her monthly account statements online.

Toronto, March 16, 2023 – The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) released its 2022 Annual Report.

Ms. R was an older investor who held equities in her Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) at an online investing firm. She turned 71 in 2020 and was required to convert her RRSP into a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) by the end of the year.

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring our case statistics for both Q4 and fiscal 2022, OBSI's approach to fraud complaints, a relationship-ended case study, and more.

Click here to read OBSI e-news: Q4/2022.

We would like to thank all those who provided their input to our Governance Review. The public consultation period was announced November 1, 2022, and the comment period for the project closed January 31, 2023. The consultation was undertaken following OBSI’s 2021 independent review which called for a strategic review of our governance structure to determine how best to ensure that key stakeholder interests are most effectively incorporated into board membership and decision-making.

OBSI is 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.

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring news about third quarter case volumes, two new case studies, how OBSI is increasing case data disclosure, and information about our 2021 independent reviews.

Click here to read OBSI e-news: Q3/2022.