On June 1, changes to the FINTRAC Regime came into effect, and CREA has compiled reference materials for REALTORS® to assist members in complying with new regulations.
Key changes include:
- A new obligation to determine whether a client is a politically exposed person or head of an international organization.
- A new obligation to obtain beneficial ownership information from corporate and other entity clients.
- A new obligation to report large virtual currency transactions.
On July 14, Simon Parham, CREA Legal Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer will be reviewing these major changes, in a free webinar available to all REALTORS® and highlighting the newly available resources that should be used in reference to these new regulations.
For more information and to familiarize yourself with the complete regulations, review FINTRAC’s New Regulatory Requirements for the Real Estate Sector.
Up-to-date materials for REALTORS® regarding compliance with the new obligations can be found on REALTOR Link® and CREA WEBForms®; these new resources have replaced draft versions previously available on REALTOR Link®.
As a result of lobbying by CREA, FINTRAC has issued a notice stating until March 31, 2022, FINTRAC will focus on assessing compliance with regulatory requirements that were in effect prior to June 1, 2021. This means although REALTORS® are still required to comply with the new obligations, and should make good faith efforts to do so, the likelihood of an administrative monetary penalty being levied if a deficiency is found with respect to the new obligations is significantly lower.
To learn about how FINTRAC will enforce these changes see FINTRAC’s notice on the assessment of new regulatory obligations.
FINTRAC has not yet published its large virtual currency report on its website. Once FINTRAC has done so, CREA will update its template office manual to include a link to that documentation. For now, REALTORS® should reference the notice on the assessment of new regulatory obligations when seeking information on reporting large virtual currency transactions before they proceed.
If you have any further questions you can contact Dil Puar, Director, Government Relations (dpuar@crea.ca), or Simon Parham, Legal Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer (sparham@crea.ca).
