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Note: For information specific to certain
types of financial institutions, see Financial
Service Providers Regulated in Alberta.
Index
Do
I need to be registered?
- The deposit-taking business is restricted to
credit unions, loan and trust corporations registered
to do so in Alberta, Alberta Treasury Branches
(ATB Financial) and federally registered banks.
For the most part, the only companies that can
offer fiduciary services are trust companies registered
in Alberta, though some other financial institutions
have limited fiduciary powers. An individual may
act as a trustee subject to the Trustee
Act.
Generally speaking, the deposit-taking business
means a business whose activities are substantively
financed out of money received by way of deposit
(money received that is not referable to the provision
of property or services or to the giving of security).
An exception to this is where the person does
not hold himself out as accepting deposits on
a day-to-day basis, and where deposits are accepted
only on particular occasions and on a basis that
is ancillary to another business purpose. For
full details, please see the
Loan and Trust Corporations Act.
Fiduciary services includes the business of offering
its services to the public as or accepting or
executing the office of executor or administrator
or trustee, or guardian or trustee of a minor's
estate or of the estate of a mentally incompetent
person except for a few designated entities.
- Copies of the application forms required
to register a company can be found in the
Publications
& Forms section for the related type of
financial institution.
- Register security under the Personal Property
Security Act: Companies must be incorporated
or registered under an Act of Alberta. Credit
unions incorporated outside of Alberta, may register
as an extra-provincial corporation under the Business
Corporations Act for this purpose.
- Mortgage brokers must be licensed under
the Real
Estate Act.
- Loan brokers: Some activities are
regulated under the Fair
Trading Act.
How
do I incorporate a …?
A company or individual must apply to our office
to incorporate a credit union, loan or trust corporation
in Alberta. The application must include sufficient
information to demonstrate that:
- it is in the public interest to establish another
financial institution
- the proposed plan of operation is feasible and
sound and that adequate financial resources exist
to provide continuing financial support for the
financial institution
- the proposed shareholders, directors and management
are fit, in terms of skill and character, to own,
direct and manage the financial institution
- deposit holders, if any, are adequately protected.
Copies of the application forms required to incorporate
a company can be found in Publications
& Forms section under the related type of
financial institution.
The time required to incorporate a new company
is dependent on many factors including the type
of financial institution, corporate structure, intended
business, etc.
What
are my ongoing responsibilities as a registered
financial institution?
Reporting responsibilities
Regulated financial institutions must file certain
"corporate" and "financial"
information with us on both a periodic and ad hoc
basis. Examples of corporate information include
lists of directors and auditors, shareholders, officers,
copies of by-laws, orders issued by other provinces
or federally, and changes or requests for changes
to the company's instrument of incorporation or
registration made by or to other provinces or federally.
Examples of financial information include signed
and audited annual financial statements, other periodic
financial returns, and all financial information
sent to shareholders.
What other responsibilities do I have?
Financial institutions incorporated in Alberta
are subject to periodic examination. This involves
combination of office and field reviews (at head
office, branches and auditors) to ensure that they
are operating in a sound manner (adequate solvency,
systems, controls, personnel) and in compliance
with the appropriate legislation.
Legislation imposes certain restrictions over the
entry and exit from the business, corporate incidents
(issues relating to directors, shareholders, other
stakeholders), activities of the corporation (types
of business), extent to which assets can be committed
(liquidity, exposure limits, capital), and preconditions
for transactions with restricted parties.
The board of directors of an institution, through
setting the overall direction of the company and
oversight of management's decisions and performance,
has ultimate responsibility for the management of
the company. As regulator, we will make recommendations
to the company where areas need improvement and
may use other regulatory powers where it is necessary
to safeguard depositors from experiencing any undue
loss.
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