Executive Summary

Harris/Decima is pleased to present this summary to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) highlighting the results of the 2014 Pension Plans Survey among pension plan administrators and professional advisors.

Research Objectives and Methodology

OSFI's stakeholder consultations program incorporates rotating surveys with various industry sectors, generally administered every two to three years. In 2014-2015, OSFI undertook a survey of federally regulated private pension plans. The previous consultation was done in 2011-2012.

The primary objectives of this survey were to:

• Obtain an overall perspective of OSFI's performance as a regulator of federally regulated private pension plans;
• Provide a high level assessment of OSFI's overall performance on a series of core measures; and
• Examine topics specific to the private pension plan sector.

To meet these objectives, an attempted census survey was executed in order to maximize completion rates with a finite sample. An online survey was conducted with pension plan administrators and professionals (including actuaries, consultants, lawyers, third-party administrators and custodians) who regularly deal with OSFI on behalf of pension plans. The survey was administered online followed by a telephone campaign to remind respondents to participate in the survey. The follow-up calls offered respondents the option to complete the survey over the phone. This differs somewhat from the approach taken in previous waves of the survey where some participants were initially invited to participate via phone while others were invited to participate via e-mail. Surveys from either an online or telephone approach were available in English and French with 236 and 36 surveys completed in each language, respectively.

The survey was completed between November 12, 2014 and December 15, 2014. From the universe of 918 potential participants, 272 surveys were completed, yielding a participation rate of 30%. Since the entire population of active pension plans (with assets over $500k) regulated by OSFI was invited to participate in this study there is no margin of sampling error to be estimated or reported.

The research will provide the data needed to meet OSFI's performance reporting commitments and will also enable OSFI's Private Pension Plans Division (PPPD) to identify areas for improvement.

A more detailed description of the methodol­ogy used to conduct this study is included in the final report , along with a copy of the questionnaire .The total amount invoiced was $41,188.84 (including HST).

Key Findings

The following are key findings from the research.

• The results from the 2014 survey are comparable to those from the previous study conducted in 2011.The data show that OSFI enjoys fairly positive performance ratings overall. Regardless of the areas explored, the majority offer ratings of either "good" or "very good" and far outstrip the proportion offering ratings of "poor" or "very poor." More specifically, there is a high level of satisfaction in the following areas:
• Focussing on appropriate areas of risk;
• Guidance that provides a clear indication of OSFI’s expectations;
• Effectiveness in supervising plans;
• Satisfaction with the processing of approvals; and
• Communicating in the official language of choice
• Notwithstanding the overall positive feedback, the detailed results do reveal that opportunities for improvement may exist in some areas. The 2014 saw a decline in overall satisfaction from 2011.Specifically, the proportion claiming to be very or somewhat satisfied with OSFI decreased 14 points, returning to levels noted in 2008. Analysis suggests that this may be a result of a number of factors and not one single issue in particular.
• Satisfaction with the timeliness of responses to general and plan-specific enquiries was a new area explored on the 2014 PPS. There is no benchmark for a direct comparison but it is a potential area for improvement.
• The data also points to a decline from 2011 in the perceived usefulness of the information in the Pensions area of the website. While awareness of the Pensions area of the website itself has increased, the perceived overall usefulness of the information found there is more apt to have neutral ratings.
• This may be related to the new Regulatory Reporting System (RRS). One of the key areas used on the Pensions site is the RRS and gaining access to reporting requirements using the RRS.
• The RRS was a new area explored in the context of use of the training materials provided by OSFI. Three in four are users of the RRS, while fewer indicated that they used the training materials related to the RRS. Those who did use the training materials suggested that the materials are not really meeting their needs.
• Unprompted commentary suggests that there are also some frustrations with the new RRS.

Harris/Decima Inc. certifies that the final deliverables comply with the political neutrality requirement in section 6.2.4 of the Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research in the Government of Canada.

Megan Tam, Vice President
Harris/Decima Inc.