OSFI Eases Crypto Capital Rules for Canadian Banks

Canada's banking regulator, OSFI, has finalized changes to its crypto capital rules. The new guideline, set to take effect November 1, 2026, and January 1, 2027, for institutions with different fiscal year-ends, will provide relief to banks by treating all regulated exchanges of traditional financial assets as one exchange when calculating delta risk for qualifying Group 2a crypto exposures.

This change addresses a specific mismatch between trading practice and capital calculations. Banks primarily use market-neutral strategies for crypto exposures, and prices for the same asset tend to move almost identically across major regulated exchanges.

The treatment does not create unconditional offsetting and only applies to Group 2a exposures that satisfy the guideline's hedging-recognition tests. Positions associated with unregulated exchanges do not gain cross-exchange recognition, and differences in time to maturity still matter.