On July 22, 2026, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) released the results of its mandatory five-year review, conducted by Australian consultancy CRKhoury (CRK). As expected, recommendations include that OBSI be given binding authority, increase its compensation limit from $350,000 to $550,000, and adopt a more flexible approach to the six-year limitation period, taking greater account of a complainant’s individual circumstances when assessing when they reasonably ought to have known about the problem giving rise to the complaint.

The following day, the Joint Regulators Committee (JRC) of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued its 2025 Annual Report copying the OBSI and CRK’s unproven low settlement concerns.

These publications serve to underscore the lack of evidence that has been presented in support of regulators’ pre-determined agenda to provide the OBSI with more powers, ignoring both international standards and problems that have arisen with a binding OBSI in the United Kingdom. Although complete data is not available, since 2024, the total number of cases that have resulted in a “low settlement” represent less than 1% of the OBSI’s total recommendations. Overall, low settlements are declining in frequency and have never accounted for a significant proportion of the OBIS’s recommendations for monetary compensation. There have been no refusals since 2020.

The OBSI’s six-year limitation period is also contrary to most provincial laws.