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BCFSA Releases Information Security Guidelines
Today BCFSA released a new standalone Information Security Guideline for B.C. Pension Plan Administrators and a revised Information Security Guideline for Provincially Regulated Financial Institutions to help mitigate information security risks and ensure timely reporting of material security incidents.
The Guidelines will come into effect on July 1, 2025. Until then, all provincially regulated financial institutions including pension plan administrators are expected to follow the Information Security Guideline for Provincially Regulated Financial Institutions issued in 2021.
Background
In October 2021, BCFSA issued its Information Security Guideline for B.C. Credit Unions, Insurance and Trust Companies, and Pension Plan Administrators. This Guideline, which applied to multiple segments of the financial services sector regulated by BCFSA, came into effect in September 2022.
In summer 2024, BCFSA consulted on a standalone Information Security Guideline for B.C. Pension Plan Administrators. This new Guideline for B.C. registered pension plan administrators, amongst other things, aims to harmonize with other pension regulators, simplify incident reporting, and clarify the definition of a material incident.
BCFSA updated its Information Security Guideline for Provincially Regulated Financial Institutions to align with this change and provide a revised incident reporting process that includes changes to how incidents should be reported.
