Trust and Loan Companies Act (S.C. 1991, c. 45)

Complaints

Marginal note:Procedures for dealing with complaints

• 441 (1) A company shall

  • (a) establish procedures for dealing with complaints made by persons having requested or received products or services in Canada from the company;

  • (b) designate an officer or employee of the company to be responsible for implementing those procedures; and

  • (c) designate one or more officers or employees of the company to receive and deal with those complaints.

• Marginal note:Procedures to be filed with Commissioner

  (2) A company shall file with the Commissioner a copy of its procedures established under paragraph (1)(a).

• Marginal note:How procedures to be made available

  (3) A company shall make its procedures established under paragraph (1)(a) available

  • (a) in the form of a brochure, at its branches where products or services are offered in Canada;

  • (b) on its websites through which products or services are offered in Canada; and

  • (c) in written format to be sent to any person who requests them.

• Marginal note:Information on contacting Agency

  (4) A company shall also make prescribed information on how to contact the Agency available whenever it makes its procedures established under paragraph (1)(a) available under subsection (3).

Marginal note:Obligation to be member of complaints body

441.1 In any province, if there is no law of the province that makes a company subject to the jurisdiction of an organization that deals with complaints made by persons having requested or received products or services in the province from a company, the company shall be a member of an organization that is not controlled by it and that deals with those complaints that have not been resolved to the satisfaction of the persons under procedures established by companies under paragraph 441(1)(a).

Marginal note:Information on contacting Agency

• 442 (1) A company shall, in accordance with the regulations, at the prescribed time and place and in the prescribed form and manner, provide a person requesting or receiving a product or service from it with prescribed information on how to contact the Agency if the person has a complaint about a deposit account, an arrangement referred to in subsection 438(3), a payment, credit or charge card, the disclosure of or manner of calculating the cost of borrowing in respect of a loan or about any other obligation of the company under a consumer provision.

• Marginal note:Report

  (2) The Commissioner shall prepare a report, to be included in the report referred to in section 34 of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act, respecting

  • (a) procedures for dealing with complaints established by companies pursuant to paragraph 441(1)(a); and

  • (b) the number and nature of complaints that have been brought to the attention of the Agency by persons who have requested or received a product or service from a company.

Miscellaneous

Marginal note:Charges for prescribed products or services

442.1 A company shall not, directly or indirectly, charge or receive any sum for the provision of any prescribed products or services unless the charge is made by express agreement between it and a customer or by order of a court.

Marginal note:Prepayment protected

• 443 (1) A company shall not make a loan to a natural person that is repayable in Canada, the terms of which prohibit prepayment of the money advanced or any instalment thereon before its due date.

• Marginal note:Minimum balance

  (2) Except by express agreement between the company and the borrower, the making in Canada of a loan or advance by a company to a borrower shall not be subject to a condition that the borrower maintain a minimum credit balance with the company.

• Marginal note:Non-application of subsection (1)

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a loan

  • (a) that is secured by a mortgage on real property; or

  • (b) that is made for business purposes and the principal amount of which is more than $100,000 or such other amount as may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Government cheques

  (4) A company shall not make a charge

  • (a) for cashing a cheque or other instrument drawn on the Receiver General or on the Receiver General’s account in the Bank of Canada, in a company or in any other deposit-taking Canadian financial institution incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament;

  • (b) for cashing any other instrument issued as authority for the payment of money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund; or

  • (c) in respect of any cheque or other instrument that is

    • (i) drawn in favour of the Receiver General, the Government of Canada or any department thereof or any public officer acting in the capacity of a public officer, and

    • (ii) tendered for deposit to the credit of the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Deposits of Government of Canada

  (5) Nothing in subsection (4) precludes any arrangement between the Government of Canada and a company concerning

  • (a) compensation for services performed by the company for the Government of Canada; or

  • (b) interest to be paid on any or all deposits of the Government of Canada with the company.

Marginal note:Regulations respecting the holding of funds

443.1 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the maximum period during which a company may hold funds in respect of specified classes of cheques or other instruments that are deposited into an account at a branch or prescribed point of service in Canada before permitting the customer in whose name the account is kept to access the funds.

Marginal note:Regulations — activities

443.2 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting any matters involving a company’s dealings, or its employees’ or representatives’ dealings, with customers or the public, including

• (a) what a company may or may not do in carrying out any of the activities in which it is permitted to engage, or in providing any of the services that it may provide, under section 409 and any ancillary, related or incidental activities or services; and

• (b) the time and place at which and the form and manner in which any of those activities are to be carried out or any of those services are to be provided.

Marginal note:Regulations re customer information

444 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) requiring a company to establish procedures regarding the collection, retention, use and disclosure of any information about its customers or any class of customers;

• (b) requiring a company to establish procedures for dealing with complaints made by a customer about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information about the customer;

• (c) respecting the disclosure by a company of information relating to the procedures referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b);

• (d) requiring a company to designate the officers and employees of the company who are responsible for

  • (i) implementing the procedures referred to in paragraph (b), and

  • (ii) receiving and dealing with complaints made by a customer of the company about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information about the customer;

• (e) requiring a company to report information relating to

  • (i) complaints made by customers of the company about the collection, retention, use or disclosure of information, and

  • (ii) the actions taken by the company to deal with the complaints; and

• (f) defining “information”, “collection” and “retention” for the purposes of paragraphs (a) to (e) and the regulations made under those paragraphs.

Marginal note:Notice of branch closure

• 444.1 (1) Subject to regulations made under subsection (5), a member company with a branch in Canada at which it, through a natural person, opens retail deposit accounts and disburses cash to customers, shall give notice in accordance with those regulations before closing that branch or having it cease to carry on either of those activities.

• Marginal note:Pre-closure meeting

  (2) After notice is given but before the branch is closed or ceases to carry on the activities, the Commissioner shall, in prescribed situations, require the company to convene and hold a meeting between representatives of the company, representatives of the Agency and interested parties in the vicinity of the branch in order to exchange views about the closing or cessation of activities, including, but not limited to, alternative service delivery by the company and measures to help the branch’s customers adjust to the closing or cessation of activities.

• Marginal note:Meeting details

  (3) The Commissioner may establish rules for convening a meeting referred to in subsection (2) and for its conduct.

• Marginal note:Not statutory instruments

  (4) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of rules established under subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (5) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing

  • (a) the time and place at which and the form and manner in which notice shall be given under subsection (1), the persons to whom it shall be given and the information to be included, the time, place, form and manner being permitted to vary according to circumstances specified in the regulations;

  • (b) circumstances in which a member company is not required to give notice under subsection (1), circumstances in which the Commissioner may exempt a member company from the requirement to give notice under that subsection, and circumstances in which the Commissioner may vary the time and place at which and the form and manner in which notice is required to be given under any regulation made under paragraph (a); and

  • (c) circumstances in which a meeting may be convened under subsection (2).

Marginal note:Public accountability statements

• 444.2 (1) A company with equity of $1 billion or more shall, in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4), annually publish a statement describing the contribution of the company and its prescribed affiliates to the Canadian economy and society.

• Marginal note:Filing

  (2) A company shall, at the prescribed time and place and in the prescribed form and manner, file a copy of the statement with the Commissioner.

• Marginal note:Provision of statement to public

  (3) A company shall, at the prescribed time and place and in the prescribed form and manner, disclose the statement to its customers and to the public.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (4) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing

  • (a) the name, contents and form of a statement referred to in subsection (1) and the time within which, the place at which and the manner in which it must be prepared;

  • (b) affiliates of a company referred to in subsection (1);

  • (c) the time and place at which and the form and manner in which a statement must be filed under subsection (2); and

  • (d) the time and place at which and the form and manner in which a statement mentioned in subsection (3) is to be disclosed, respectively, to a company’s customers and to the public.

Marginal note:Regulations re disclosure

444.3 The Governor in Council may, subject to any other provisions of this Act relating to the disclosure of information, make regulations respecting the disclosure of information by companies or any prescribed class of companies, including regulations respecting

• (a) the information that must be disclosed, including information relating to

  • (i) any product or service or prescribed class of products or services offered by them,

  • (ii) any of their policies, procedures or practices relating to the offer by them of any product or service or prescribed class of products or services,

  • (iii) anything they are required to do or to refrain from doing under a consumer provision, and

  • (iv) any other matter that may affect their dealings, or their employees’ or representatives’ dealings, with customers or the public;

• (b) the time and place at which, the form and manner in which and the persons to whom information is to be disclosed; and

• (c) the content and form of any advertisement by companies or any prescribed class of companies relating to any matter referred to in paragraph (a).

Marginal note:Bank Act security

445 A bank that is continued as a company under this Act that, immediately before that continuance, held any outstanding security pursuant to section 426 or 427 of the Bank Act may continue to hold the security for the life of the loan to which the security relates and all the provisions of the Bank Act relating to the security and its enforcement continue to apply to the company as though it were a bank.

Marginal note:Transmission in case of death

• 446 (1) Where the transmission of a debt owing by a company by reason of a deposit, of property held by a company as security or for safe-keeping or of rights with respect to a safety deposit box and property deposited therein takes place because of the death of a person, the delivery to the company of

  • (a) an affidavit or declaration in writing in form satisfactory to the company signed by or on behalf of a person claiming by virtue of the transmission stating the nature and effect of the transmission, and

  • (b) one of the following documents, namely,

    • (i) when the claim is based on a will or other testamentary instrument or on a grant of probate thereof or on such a grant and letters testamentary or other document of like import or on a grant of letters of administration or other document of like import, purporting to be issued by any court of authority in Canada or elsewhere, an authenticated copy or certificate thereof under the seal of the court or authority without proof of the authenticity of the seal or other proof, or

    • (ii) when the claim is based on a notarial will, an authenticated copy thereof,

  is sufficient justification and authority for giving effect to the transmission in accordance with the claim.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed to prevent a company from refusing to give effect to a transmission until there has been delivered to the company such documentary or other evidence of or in connection with the transmission as it may deem requisite.