Unclaimed Pension Transfers to Bank of Canada

Summary#

These are final regulations that change the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 to let terminated federally regulated pension plans transfer the assets linked to pension benefits for people who cannot be located to a designated entity — the Bank of Canada. The rules say what information plans must send, what the Bank can publish to help people find their money, and how long the Bank can hold the funds; they take effect on January 1, 2027 (registered March 30, 2026, published April 8, 2026).

What it does#

• Allows a terminated federally regulated pension plan to transfer unclaimed pension assets for a person who cannot be located to a designated entity (the Bank of Canada), with the approval of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
• Defines who counts as the relevant persons for transfer and claims:
  • the person who owned the pension balance, or if deceased, their survivor, designated beneficiary, or estate representative.
• Requires plan administrators to provide the designated entity certain information about the unlocatable person and the asset being transferred, including:
  • name, spouse/common-law partner and designated beneficiary names on file, postal and email addresses on file, date of birth, and social insurance number;
  • plan membership start and end dates, date of transfer, amount transferred, plan name and registration number, contributing employers, and the administrator or trustee contact details at transfer.
• Allows the Bank of Canada to publish limited information on a public database to help people find unclaimed balances, including:
  • last known name and addresses on file, membership dates, date of transfer, amount transferred, plan name and registration number, and contributing employers.
• Says a transfer to the designated entity satisfies the pension plan’s obligation to pay that benefit.
• Sets how long the Bank can hold unclaimed assets before they go to the Crown:
  • 30 years when the amount transferred is under $1,000;
  • 100 years in any other case.
• Identifies who may make a claim from the Bank: the owner, an agent of the owner, survivors or designated beneficiaries, or estate representatives.

Who's affected#

• Administrators and sponsors of federally regulated private-sector and Crown-corporation pension plans (these make up about 7% of private pension plans).
• People with unclaimed pension balances from federally regulated plans, their survivors, and designated beneficiaries.
• The Bank of Canada, which will run the public database and hold the assets.
• The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), which must approve transfers and supervises federally regulated plans.
• Note: these rules do not apply to federal public service, Canadian Forces, or Royal Canadian Mounted Police pension plans.

Why it matters#

• It helps terminated federally regulated plans fully wind up by moving unresolved, unclaimed balances out of their accounts. That can reduce ongoing administrative costs for those plans.
• It creates a central public place (run by the Bank of Canada) where people can search for forgotten pension money. The government estimates there are more than 500 unclaimed balances in terminated federally regulated plans worth about $10 million, and that around 25% of terminated plans are made up entirely of unclaimed, unlocatable balances.
• The rules require the transfer and limited publication of personal information (name, addresses, date of birth, SIN) to make it easier to reunite people with their money. The government’s analysis says this poses a low legal risk, but it is a change to how personal information is handled.
• The Bank will incur initial setup costs of about one million dollars to operate the system, with lower ongoing costs afterward.