Mortgage Broker

brokering across borders 44 | spring 2018 cmba-achc.ca CmB magazIne t he authority to regulate mortgage brokering within its borders lies with each province, not with the federal government. Many provinces have accordingly enacted unique regulatory structures, including legislation, regulations and regulators. Mortgage brokering, however, occurs across provincial borders. is raises a number of issues, including: n whether a province should recognize an applicant's education and experience obtained outside its borders as satisfying its own education and experience licensing qualification requirements, without further testing; and n whether sanctions imposed on a mortgage broker by a regulator in one province should be enforceable in another province. Some provinces have addressed these concerns by allowing, to some extent, both licensing and enforcement reciprocity. LICEnSInG rECIProCITy Labour mobility across the provinces is promoted by agreements, including the: n federal Agreement on Internal Trade, Chapter 7 (AIT), signed by all provinces except Quebec; and n the New West Partnership and Trade Agreement (NWPTA), signed by British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) One of the purposes of the AIT is to enable a worker qualified for an occupation in one province or territory to be granted access to employment opportunities in that occupation anywhere in the country, without unnecessary delay or duplicative assessment and training. Accordingly, mortgage brokers who have obtained licensing in one province are generally not required to take further education or obtain further experience to qualify for licensing in other signatory provinces. However, if the mortgage brokering activities permitted in the other province were more limited, the province applied to can accordingly limit the licence granted or require the applicant to take needed further education or training. Even if an applicant is exempted from a province's usual education and experience requirements, to obtain licensing the applicant must nevertheless meet any other qualification requirements of the applied-to province, such as: n being suitable for registration; n being familiar with all regulatory requirements governing mortgage brokers in the province; and n satisfying non-material requirements (for example: application fees, obtaining errors and omission insurance, and providing evidence of good standing and certification from the reciprocating jurisdiction). EnForCEmEnT rECIProCITy e public interest is served by ensuring a mortgage broker disciplined in one province is not permitted to set up in another province, free of his or her disciplinary history. e enforcement reciprocity can be achieved by an explicit reciprocity law but it can also be achieved by a law that takes the out-of-province discipline into account in applying the province's own legislation. e B.C. Mortgage Brokers Act, for example, authorizes the Registrar to suspend and/or cancel a person's registration, order the person to cease a specified activity and/or order the person to carry out specified actions that the Registrar considers necessary to remedy the situation, if the person: n has been convicted of an offence in Canada or another jurisdiction arising from business, a transaction or a course of conduct related to mortgages, mortgage brokerage, real estate, insurance or securities; n has been found by a regulator or court in Canada or another jurisdiction to have contravened the laws of the jurisdiction respecting mortgages, mortgage brokerage, real estate, insurance or securities; or n in the opinion of the Registrar, the person would be disentitled to registration if the person were applying for registration or renewal of registration. Even with Pan-Canadian agreements, you need to know the requirements of every province in which you do business By rAy BAsi, ll.B., stAff, eDucAtion AnD Policy review reciprocity Education and EnforcEmEnt

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