One firm type saw complaints spike far above the rest - and regulators are watching closely
Complaints against Canadian portfolio managers rose 41 percent last year, as regulators pressed ahead with a plan to make investor-compensation rulings binding on firms.
That mix - more complaints and a regulatory push to give those rulings teeth - runs through CSA Staff Notice 31-370, published on July 23, 2026, by the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization. The notice serves as the 2025 annual report of the Joint Regulators Committee, the group of provincial regulators and CIRO that oversees the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, known as OBSI.
For advisers and the firms that employ them, the complaint data is the place to start. In OBSI's 2025 fiscal year, opened investment cases rose 3 percent overall, but the increase was lopsided. Complaints tied to portfolio managers climbed 41 percent. Those involving investment dealers rose 19 percent, and mutual fund dealer complaints rose 16 percent. Complaints fell for restricted dealers, scholarship plan dealers and exempt market dealers. OBSI reported more disputes over instructions that were not followed, service problems, transfer delays and unauthorized transactions, while suitability complaints eased.
The report also revisits what happens when OBSI sides with an investor. When it concludes that a firm acted unfairly, made a mistake or gave poor advice, OBSI can recommend compensation of up to $350,000 - but firms are not bound to pay. The committee reported no outright refusals in the 2025 fiscal year. It did flag four low settlements, where a firm paid less than recommended. Two involved recommendations above $100,000, and together those cases settled for more than $154,000 below what OBSI had proposed.
The longer trend is what the committee keeps circling back to. Since OBSI's 2018 fiscal year, low settlements have left complainants with roughly $2.1 million less than recommended, across 50 cases involving 28 firms. Twelve of those firms settled low more than once. On average, the committee said, such cases resolved at about 60 percent of the recommended amount.
That history helps explain where the rules are heading. The committee said it supports the CSA's effort to give OBSI binding authority, and in July 2025 the CSA published a proposal setting out how it would oversee an ombudservice whose decisions would bind firms.
Firms have more to watch. OBSI reported a systemic issue in 2025 involving a registered firm; according to the committee, client information was recorded inaccurately, documented risk tolerances were not followed, portfolio risk was understated and internal controls were insufficient. The matter was referred to a regulator, whose investigation is ongoing. The committee also considered a separate fee category for crypto firms, tracked OBSI's use of virtual-agent AI tools, and monitored a proactive-resolution pilot meant to settle complaints early - watching, it said, for signs that investors feel pressured to accept less.
CIRO's disgorgement distribution program, which returns money collected in disciplinary cases to harmed investors, took effect on April 1, 2026.
The full text of CSA Staff Notice 31-370 is available at https://www.osc.ca/sites/default/files/2026-07/csa_20260723_31-370_obsi-jrc-annual-report-2025.pdf.
