In a moderated discussion, Peter Routledge, superintendent of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, urged financial institutions to balance resilience with growth, competition and innovation rather than equating resilience with risk avoidance. He pointed to adjustments to risk-weighted capital requirements in the 2027 Capital Adequacy Requirements Guideline and the lower Domestic Stability Buffer level and range as measures that give banks greater capacity to support lending and investment while maintaining sound risk management. Boards and senior management should prepare for risks that can interact and spread through banks, non-bank financial institutions, counterparties and service providers. Priorities include setting crisis accountabilities, escalation thresholds and continuity measures in advance, particularly for capital, liquidity, cyber incidents and operational disruptions. Routledge also called for board visibility into material uses of artificial intelligence, including third-party systems, with clear guardrails, monitoring, human oversight and accountability for outcomes. On climate and catastrophic risk, institutions should assess repeated or overlapping events rather than isolated shocks, including how reduced insurance availability can shift risk to households, businesses and lenders. OSFI plans to make more catastrophic risk information publicly available through a new dashboard in the months ahead, showing where Canadian exposures are concentrated and how the associated financial risks could evolve.

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