OSFI becomes a member of the international Network for Greening the Financial System

OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 30, 2021 /CNW/ - OSFI's continued acceleration of actions to address climate-related risks now includes its new membership to The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

This year, OSFI has taken deliberate steps towards addressing climate-related risks in our supervisory work and in our broader macro-prudential activities. We are also engaged in domestic collaboration between the private and public sectors via Canada's Sustainable Finance Action Council, put in place to support the growth of a strong, well-functioning sustainable finance market and to serve as a centre of expertise, partnership, and dialogue on sustainable finance issues in Canada and internationally.

Participation in the NGFS includes commitments to actively contributing work and resources to pursue the objectives of improving supervisory practices, risk measures and actions that will raise the bar for preparedness to the impacts of climate change on the financial system and economy, for the benefit of all those that rely on good decision-making in the face of change.

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"Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and it demands all of us to address its threats with a greater sense of urgency, vigour and effort commensurate with the risk. OSFI's membership in the NGFS is a critical, though not final, milestone in our efforts to address climate change risk amongst Canadian financial institutions and pension plans."

- Superintendent, Peter Routledge

OSFI's other international efforts include participating in :

• the BCBS's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks (TCFR) workstreams on regulatory and supervisory practices;
• the IAIS, where we collaborated with peer regulators in drafting the Application Paper on the Supervision of Climate-related Risks in the Insurance Sector, where we are members of the newly created Climate Risk Steering Group (CRSG);
• the FSB's working groups on regulatory and supervisory approaches to address climate-related financial risks and disclosure; and
• the Sustainable Insurance Forum.

About the NGFS

NGFS, launched at the Paris One Planet Summit on 12 December 2017, is a group of central banks and supervisors, which on a voluntary basis are willing to share best practices and contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial sector, and to mobilize mainstream finance to support the transition toward a sustainable economy. The NGFS brings together 102 central banks and supervisors and 16 observers. Together, they represent five continents and around 85% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and are responsible for the supervision of all of the global systemically important banks and two thirds of global systemically important insurers. The NGFS is chaired by Frank Elderson, member of the ECB's Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by Jean Boissinot, is provided by Banque de France.

About OSFI

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is an independent agency of the Government of Canada, established in 1987, to protect depositors, policyholders, financial institution creditors and pension plan members, while allowing financial institutions to compete and take reasonable risks.

SOURCE Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions