Mortgage broker trust account rules across Canada, explained

A mortgage brokerage arranging an ordinary bank mortgage usually never touches your money directly. A brokerage handling a deposit, a private lender's funds, or an investor's contribution to a syndicated mortgage is a different situation entirely — and several provinces have specific, checkable rules for keeping that money segregated, reconciled, and audited, separate from the brokerage's own operating account.

Ontario: any money received is deemed trust funds — and administering is its own separate license

Under Ontario Regulation 189/08 made under the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006, money a brokerage receives from a borrower, lender, or investor in connection with a mortgage transaction is deemed to be trust money, and a brokerage generally may hold only one trust account unless FSRA approves an exception. A brokerage receiving trust funds has to reconcile that account monthly and notify FSRA's Chief Executive Officer immediately if a shortfall ever turns up. Ontario also licenses a separate category entirely — a mortgage administrator — for a business that collects ongoing payments and manages trust accounts and investor funds on behalf of lenders, typically private lenders, rather than arranging new loans; the MBLAA created this as a distinct license precisely because administering carries different trust-account and investor-protection risks than brokering a new loan does. A licensed mortgage administrator additionally has to maintain a $25,000 financial guarantee and file annually audited financial statements with FSRA, on top of its own trust-account obligations.

British Columbia: a brokerage needs specific authorization to hold one at all

Under BC's regulatory framework, a brokerage can't simply open a trust account on its own initiative — only a brokerage BCFSA has specifically authorized to hold client money may operate one, and no other kind of funds may be deposited into it. Money received from or on behalf of a client has to be deposited into that trust account no later than two business days after receipt. This authorization-first structure carries forward as BC moves from the Mortgage Brokers Act to the Mortgage Services Act on October 13, 2026 — see our explainer on that transition for the broader change.

Alberta: an annual audit tied to the same rules real estate trades use

RECA, which licenses Alberta's mortgage brokers under the same Real Estate Act framework our Alberta licensing explainer covers, requires a mortgage brokerage that receives or holds money on behalf of others during a given fiscal year to submit an accountant's audit report to RECA within three months of that fiscal year-end; a brokerage that held no client trust money during the period instead files a declaration confirming that. Alberta's Real Estate Assurance Fund — funded by real estate and mortgage brokerage licensees through their RECA fees — can compensate a consumer for a loss tied to a mortgage brokerage's fraud, breach of trust, or failure to properly disburse trust money, up to $25,000 per claimant and $100,000 total per licensee per event.

Newfoundland and Labrador: trust accounts are a genuinely new requirement

As our Newfoundland and Labrador explainer covers, the province's new Mortgage Brokerages and Brokers Act (enacted 2023, with its trust-account regime in force since April 1, 2025) specifically introduced a trust-account requirement, alongside mandatory E&O insurance, for a brokerage that holds client funds — neither existed under the 1990 law it replaced. That timing is a useful reminder on its own: trust-account regulation is not uniform or static across Canada, and a province with no such requirement today isn't guaranteed to stay that way.

Why this is worth asking about directly

None of this means an ordinary mortgage transaction routes money through your broker at all — in most conventional deals, funds move directly between the lender, your lawyer or notary, and the seller, and your broker never touches them. The trust-account question matters specifically when a broker does end up holding your money: a private-lending deposit, or your contribution to a syndicated mortgage investment. In that situation, ask directly whether the brokerage is authorized to hold a trust account for that province's regulator, and, where a provincial framework requires it, whether the account is being reconciled and independently audited on schedule.

What this page is, and isn't: a comparative explainer of how trust-account regulation generally works across several provinces, for general understanding — not a claim about any specific brokerage's actual trust-account practices or compliance history. We do not name, rank, vet, or imply any verdict about a specific Canadian broker, originator, or brokerage on this or any Library page, and our published standard and Register remain United States-only.