Last reviewed: 16 September 2026
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How Newfoundland and Labrador licenses mortgage brokers: the 2025 Mortgage Brokerages and Brokers Act
Like Nova Scotia's 2024 overhaul, Newfoundland and Labrador recently replaced a mortgage broker law that had stood, largely unchanged, for decades — in this case, since 1990.
A 1990 law replaced, effective April 1, 2025
Mortgage brokering in Newfoundland and Labrador was governed for over three decades by the Mortgage Brokers Act, RSNL 1990, c. M-18. The province replaced it with the Mortgage Brokerages and Brokers Act, SNL 2023, c. M-17.1 — introduced as Bill 30 in the House of Assembly — whose new licensing rules and accompanying regulations came into force on April 1, 2025. The Act is administered by the Superintendent of Mortgage Brokerages and Brokers, within the province's Digital Government and Service NL department, which maintains licensing and the province's public registry of licensees.
Two licensed categories: brokerage and broker
The Act licenses a mortgage brokerage — the firm, authorized to carry on the business of brokering mortgages — and a mortgage broker, an individual authorized to broker mortgages on behalf of a licensed brokerage. That's a leaner structure than the three-to-five-tier frameworks already covered in neighboring New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, each of which separately licenses an associate and/or administrator category.
A course, an exam, and a criminal record check
A mortgage broker applicant must complete the Newfoundland and Labrador Mortgage Broker Course Examination, approved by the superintendent, within the 2 years before applying. The principal broker responsible for a brokerage separately completes the Newfoundland and Labrador Mortgage Brokerage Management Course Examination on the same 2-year window. Every individual applicant also provides a certified criminal record check — from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, the RCMP, or another organization the minister approves — satisfactory to the superintendent.
Mandatory E&O insurance and trust accounts — both new to this Act
The province's own description of the overhaul specifically named errors and omissions insurance and mortgage-brokerage trust accounts as new requirements the prior 1990 law didn't impose. Under the current Act, an applicant must be the named insured on an errors and omissions liability insurance policy with a minimum limit of $500,000, issued by an insurer licensed to do business in the province — the same general dollar floor our province-by-province E&O explainer already documents for Ontario, Alberta, and Nova Scotia. A brokerage that holds client funds must also maintain a proper trust account, on top of the strengthened client-disclosure requirements the new regulations added alongside it.
What an active NL license does and doesn't tell you
An active mortgage brokerage or mortgage broker license under the current Act confirms current, authorized status in that specific category, as of the date checked — including, for a brokerage, that the required E&O coverage is actually in force. It doesn't tell you whether a specific lender relationship has been disclosed to you in writing; see our companion explainer on conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements in Canada for that distinct point.