Metropolitan Toronto Pension Plan Surplus – August 25, 2020

August 25, 2020

We are pleased to report that this matter is proceeding to the final regulatory approval stage.  On August 20, 2020, the City of Toronto served its Notice of Employer Surplus Withdrawal Application (the “Notice”) on Koskie Minsky LLP (“KM”), in its capacity as counsel to members of the Metropolitan Toronto Pension Plan (the “Plan”) surplus sharing group who retained KM to represent them in this matter.  A copy of this Notice can be found by clicking this link.

As is set out in the Notice, the City of Toronto is proceeding to file a Surplus Withdrawal Application with Ontario’s pension regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (“FSRA”), and we are advised that this important step was completed on August 21st, 2020.  At the same time, the City of Toronto also filed an actuarial valuation report on the wind-up of the Metro Plan.

As the City of Toronto reported to you in its letter of March 23, 2020, FSRA previously indicated that it will prioritize its review of the application.  We will shortly be writing a letter to FSRA to encourage the prioritization of FSRA’s review.  It is, however, important to note that the timing of any surplus distribution depends both on the length of time required for the applicable regulatory approvals, as well as any potential hearing requests to the Ontario Financial Services Tribunal, should any members of the Metro Plan object to the proposed distribution.  In addition, despite previously communicated timelines, the regulator’s review may also be impacted by Ontario’s existing emergency order in response to COVID-19.

We will continue to post periodic updates to this website to keep members advised as this matter proceeds.

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