The Financial Services Commission of Ontario has published new complaint reporting requirements that form part of a joint initiative with the Autorité des marchés financiers.

FSCO and the AMF are embarking on a joint initiative to change the requirements for complaint reporting by the companies they supervise in an effort to reduce duplication and harmonize regulatory reporting. The new approach to data collection supports a risk-based market conduct regulatory framework and will require companies to move from reporting aggregate complaint data to reporting complaints on a case-by-case basis.

It is anticipated that the new reporting system will be ready for general launch in October. Once the system is in place, companies will have until Jan. 30, 2006, to report the complaint data collected for the period between July 1 and December 31. This means that as of July 1, insurance companies must be in a position to collect complaint data in accordance with new criteria. Companies will not be required to report data for the period between January 1 and June 30.

FSCO says that the new initiative is expected to form the basis for a national complaint data reporting system.