Most Canadians believe their financial institutions are financially stable, although they are less confident in the ability of governments or regulators to protect them, according to a new report from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

The report, which was released today, reveals the results of a survey carried out by Decima Research Inc. It finds that Canadians are highly confident that their financial institutions are financially healthy and stable.

The report notes that the vast majority of Canadians have not engaged in activity that might be expected of someone concerned about the safety of their money, or concerned that a policy would be paid, such as closing an account or canceling a policy.

Consumer confidence is highest in banks, followed by life insurers, with property and casualty insurers rated third. The study found there is a high level of confidence that “money deposited with banks is safe or that insurance companies have the financial resources to pay their claims”, and a high level of confidence that “senior management and boards of directors are working to ensure institutions are financially healthy and stable”.

Consumers expressed lower levels of confidence in government and regulators. Confidence that “government regulation and oversight works to ensure the financial health and stability” of institutions: for clients of banks was 68% (somewhat agree or strongly agree); life companies, 54%; P&C companies, 57%. Confidence that “government would step in to protect depositors / policy holders from losing money if an institution got into financial difficulty”: banks, 59%; life companies, 41%; P&C companies, 43%.

Also, members of private pension plans express high levels of confidence that their plans will be able to pay entitled benefits in retirement. Defined benefit plan members express higher levels of confidence than defined contribution plan members, it notes.

As for the overall health of the Canadian economy, 60% rated it as good, very good or excellent; 27% rated it as fair; only 11% rated it as poor. Over the next couple of years, 54% expect no real change; 24% expect good times; and 16 % expect bad times.

OSFI’s questions are added to an existing Decima omnibus survey, which is performed weekly on behalf of many clients and covers a broad range of matters. The results were collected by telephone from a random sample of approximately 1000 Canadians, aged 18 and over, from across the country during March and April. A sample size of 1,000 yields results that are accurate to within +/-3.1 percentage points (19 times out of 20).