OSFI Loosens Crypto Capital Rules for Regulated Exchanges

Canada's banking regulator has finalized new guidelines for calculating capital requirements for banks holding Group 2a crypto exposures. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) issued its 2027 guideline on September 10, allowing regulated exchanges to be treated as one exchange when calculating delta risk.

This change addresses a specific issue where market-neutral strategies used by banks were resulting in overstatement of capital requirements due to separate treatment of positions on different qualifying regulated exchanges. By treating these exchanges as one, banks can now receive full capital recognition for positions with the same time to maturity and asset.

The final treatment does not create unconditional offsetting, and only applies to Group 2a exposures that satisfy specific conditions, including product structure, regulatory approval, and liquidity requirements. Positions associated with unregulated exchanges do not benefit from this change.