Transfer of Funds and Purchase of Life Annuities

Marginal note:Who may transfer funds

• 54. (1) The following persons may, in accordance with subsection (2), transfer or use funds from their account with a pooled registered pension plan:

  • (a) a member who is no longer employed by an employer that is participating in the plan;

  • (b) a member who has provided the notice referred to in section 44;

  • (c) a member of a plan that has been terminated under section 62; or

  • (d) the survivor of a member.

• Marginal note:Transfer of funds

  (2) If the member or survivor, as the case may be, notifies the administrator within the prescribed time or, in the case where the Superintendent permits a longer period under paragraph 57(1)(d) or (e) for giving the statement referred to in any of those paragraphs, within 60 days after the day on which the administrator gives that statement, the funds in the member’s account may be

  • (a) transferred to an account for the member or the survivor, as the case may be, with a pooled registered pension plan or another pension plan, if that plan permits;

  • (b) transferred to a retirement savings plan of the prescribed kind for the member or survivor, as the case may be; or

  • (c) used to purchase an immediate or deferred life annuity of the prescribed kind for the member or survivor, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Effect to notification

  (3) The administrator must, without delay, take the necessary action to give effect to the notification.

Marginal note:Transfer of funds at prescribed age

55. On or after January 1 of the year following the year in which a member reaches the prescribed age that is fixed for the purposes of this section, the administrator may transfer the funds in the member’s account with the pooled registered pension plan to a prescribed account.

Sex Discrimination Prohibited

Marginal note:Sex discrimination prohibited

56. The sex of a member or of their spouse, former spouse, common-law partner or former common-law partner must not be taken into account in determining the amount of any contribution required to be paid by the member under a pooled registered pension plan.

Rights to Information

Marginal note:Provisions respecting information

• 57. (1) A pooled registered pension plan must provide

  • (a) that each member and each employer that is participating in the plan will be given, in the prescribed circumstances and in the prescribed time and manner,

    • (i) a written explanation of the provisions of the plan and of any applicable amendments to the plan, and

    • (ii) any other information that is prescribed;

  • (b) that each member of the plan will be given, in the prescribed circumstances and manner, and within 45 days after the end of each year or any longer period specified by the Superintendent, a written statement showing

    • (i) the value of accumulated contributions made under the plan, expressed in the prescribed manner, by or in respect of the member since the member became a member, and

    • (ii) any other information that is prescribed;

  • (c) that each member of the plan, and their spouse or common-law partner may, once in each year, either personally or by an agent or mandatary authorized in writing for that purpose, request, in writing, copies of the documents or information filed with the Superintendent under subsection 12(2), sections 13 and 58, as well as any other prescribed documents, from the Canadian head office of the administrator;

  • (d) that, if a member has provided notice under section 44, has been provided notice under subsection 62(4) or is no longer employed by an employer that is participating in the plan, the administrator must give to the member a statement, in the prescribed form, of the funds in their account within 30 days after the day on which the notice was provided or the employee’s employment with the employer ceased or any longer period permitted by the Superintendent; and

  • (e) that, in the case of a member’s death, the administrator must give to the survivor, if there is one, to the member’s designated beneficiary if the administrator has been notified of the designation and there is no survivor, or, in every other case, to the executor or administrator of the member’s estate or to the liquidator of the member’s succession a statement, in the prescribed form, of the funds in the member’s account within 30 days after the day on which the administrator received notice of the death or any longer period permitted by the Superintendent.

• Marginal note:Administrator’s duty

  (2) The administrator must, without delay, provide, on the payment of any reasonable fee that the administrator may fix, the documents requested under paragraph (1)(c).

Duty to Provide Information

Marginal note:Annual reporting requirements

• 58. (1) The administrator of a pooled registered pension plan must file with the Superintendent — annually or at any other intervals or times that the Superintendent directs — an information return relating to that plan, containing the prescribed information.

• Marginal note:Financial statements and other information

  (2) The administrator of a pooled registered pension plan must file with the Superintendent prescribed financial statements and any other prescribed information at any intervals or times that the Superintendent directs.

• Marginal note:Financial statements

  (3) Except as otherwise specified by the Superintendent, the financial statements must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, the primary source of which is the Handbook of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

• Marginal note:Form and manner of filings and time limit

  (4) Every document required to be filed under this section must be filed in the form and manner that the Superintendent may direct and, unless otherwise directed by the Superintendent, be filed within three months after the end of the year to which the document relates.

Marginal note:Information to members

59. The administrator must provide to the members, at the time and in the manner specified by the Superintendent, any information that the Superintendent specifies.

Marginal note:Information to Superintendent

60. The employer and the administrator must provide to the Superintendent, at the time and in the manner specified by the Superintendent, any information that the Superintendent specifies.

TERMINATION AND WINDING-UP

Marginal note:Termination of pooled registered pension plan

61. Only the Superintendent or the administrator may terminate a pooled registered pension plan.

Marginal note:Deemed termination

• 62. (1) The revocation of registration of a pooled registered pension plan is deemed to constitute the termination of the plan.

• Marginal note:Superintendent may declare plan terminated

  (2) The Superintendent may declare a pooled registered pension plan terminated if

  • (a) a bankruptcy order has been made against the administrator under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act;

  • (b) the administrator is the subject of a winding-up order under the Winding-up and Restructuring Act;

  • (c) the administrator is the subject of proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act; or

  • (d) the administrator has discontinued or is in the process of discontinuing its business operations.

• Marginal note:Date of termination

  (3) The Superintendent’s declaration must specify that a pooled registered pension plan is terminated as of the date that the Superintendent considers appropriate in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Notification — employers and members

  (4) An administrator must, not less than 60 days and not more than 180 days before the date on which it terminates a pooled registered pension plan, provide written notification of this termination to the employers that are participating in the plan and the members of the plan. The notice must specify the date of the termination.

• Marginal note:Notification — Superintendent

  (5) An administrator must, not less than 60 and not more than 180 days before the date on which it terminates or winds up a pooled registered pension plan, provide notification of this termination or winding-up to the Superintendent. The notice must specify the date of the termination or winding up and be in the form and manner directed by the Superintendent.

• Marginal note:Termination or winding up effective

  (6) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), the termination is effective only if the administrator notifies the Superintendent in accordance with subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Payments into members’ accounts

  (7) If a pooled registered pension plan is terminated, the employer must remit to the administrator, and the administrator must pay into the members’ accounts, all amounts that are due as of the date of the termination.

• Marginal note:Effect of termination on assets

  (8) On the termination of a pooled registered pension plan, the assets of the plan continue to be subject to this Act.

• Marginal note:Termination report

  (9) On the termination of a pooled registered pension plan, the administrator of the plan must file with the Superintendent, in the form and manner that the Superintendent may direct, a termination report prepared by a person having the prescribed qualifications. The report must also set out the amounts referred to in subsection (7) — calculated as of the date of termination — and contain any prescribed information.

• Marginal note:Assets not to be used or transferred

  (10) Assets of the pooled registered pension plan must not be used or transferred for any purpose until the Superintendent has approved the termination report. However, the administrator of the plan may make variable payments, as they fall due, to any persons entitled to receive them.

• Marginal note:Superintendent may direct winding-up

  (11) If a pooled registered pension plan has been terminated and the Superintendent is of the opinion that no action or insufficient action has been taken to wind up the plan, the Superintendent may direct the administrator to distribute the funds in the members’ accounts and may direct that any expenses incurred in connection with that distribution be paid out of the members’ accounts, and the administrator must comply with that direction without delay.

GENERAL

Marginal note:Designation of beneficiaries — provincial law

63. Except to the extent that they are inconsistent with this Act, any provisions of any provincial law respecting the designation of beneficiaries that would be applicable to a pension plan are deemed to apply to members who are employed in included employment as though that employment were not included employment.