The ​Canadian Financial Industry Regulatory Authority remit involves a diverse set of regulated entities, all of which operate in different subsectors of the financial industry and provide services to different types of retail and institutional investors. The Policy Department analyses the market practices in each of these different sectors. It assesses the effectiveness of existing rules and, where necessary, the department proposes the issuance of guidance for the compliance of supervised entities with the regulatory framework and where permissible, the amendments to existing national rules and/or the introduction of new national rules. This is designed to provide an effective, proportionate and evolving framework that captures the industry’s pace of change and ensures investor protection is not put at risk of compromise by outdated policies. In performing its tasks, the Policy Department is typically collaborating with other Departments of CADFIRA in relation to issues falling under their responsibility.

Once a proposed solution is formulated, a public consultation is typically launched. Where a proposal is publicly consulted, the feedback is analysed and the appropriate policy is adopted and is made public by issuing a policy statement. In exceptional cases where an immediate action is required, a policy may be directly adopted without prior consultation.