Learn about the objectives of the Heads of Regulatory Agencies (HoA) Committee, the membership, structure and responsibilities.
Objectives
The objective of the Heads of Regulatory Agencies (HoA) Committee is to share information and perspectives on:
- Emerging regulatory issues
- Financial system trends
- Broad market developments that cut across functional responsibilities of HoA members
Specifically, the HoA provides a forum for members to:
- Share information and cooperate on areas of common interest, including systemic risk surveillance and data gaps
- Inform each other of their agencies’ policy priorities
- Share views on domestic and international regulatory work underway
- Support relationships and coordinate with member agencies, including to prepare for and manage crises
- Discuss policy and inform the formulation of their agencies’ own policies, including with respect to mitigating systemic risk
Membership
Members are heads or senior representatives of key federal and provincial agencies with regulatory and prudential responsibility for different elements of the financial system:
- Bank of Canada (Chair)
- Alberta Securities Commission
- Autorité des marchés financiers
- British Columbia Securities Commission
- Ontario Securities Commission
- Department of Finance Canada
- Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
Other authorities that are not members may be invited to HoA meetings to address specific matters, as needed.
Supporting structure
Sub-Heads of Regulatory Agencies (Sub-HoA) helps set the HoA agenda and promotes efficient discussions at the HoA meeting by making sure that relevant information is shared and understood in advance. It consists of representatives from the HoA members.
Systemic Risk Surveillance Committee (SRSC) facilitates information sharing and collaboration to monitor and assess current and emerging vulnerabilities and risks to the financial system. The SRSC reports to the HoA. See the SRSC’s terms of reference for more information.
Other working groups or committees may be formed as needed. They are created by and report to the HoA. They may include non-HoA members.
Meetings
The HoA holds semi-annual meetings, chaired by the Bank of Canada. The Governor of the Bank of Canada can also convene an HoA meeting on an ad-hoc basis to coordinate on urgent matters as they arise.
Member responsibilities
HoA members are invited to collaborate and share information in accordance with their own independent mandates and subject to their confidentiality obligations. HoA members are responsible for keeping confidential, to the extent permissible by law, any non-public information they receive or otherwise access through the HoA. This includes any information shared in confidence with HoA members by Canadian representatives from various international forums, bodies and working groups.
Transparency
The Bank of Canada will circulate minutes to HoA members after each meeting.
Updates on the HoA’s work are published in the Bank of Canada’s Financial System Review.