The facts
- Who files
- OSFI's reporting requirements tables list it for: Canadian life insurers (including insurance holding companies and non-operating life companies); foreign life insurers; Canadian fraternal benefit societies; foreign fraternal benefit societies. Source
- How often
- Annual. Source
- Deadline
- Annual filing: within 60 days. Subject to the Late and Erroneous Filing Penalties (LEFP) framework. Source
- Format
- XML, Excel. The instructions say the annual filing is one verified copy of the fourth quarter LCQ and the LCA supplement, or Excel versions, "together with the electronic file (XML format)", filed via RRS within 60 days of year end. Source
- How it is filed
- Filing routes recorded for the OSFI: Regulatory Reporting System (RRS); Regulatory Data Hub (RDH). See how firms file with the OSFI.
- Status
- In forceFiled in the Regulatory Reporting System (RRS). OSFI's Data Collection Modernization initiative will replace RRS with a new platform, the Regulatory Data Hub (RDH); OSFI says the launch is now targeted for spring 2027 and asks filers to keep using RRS until then. Financial filing for insurers moves to RDH in Release 3; OSFI says more details on financial returns will come in 2027. Source
- Group
- Life insurers: capital
Templates (26)
The tables and forms inside the return. Plain name first, the OSFI's code in brackets.
- Balance Sheet Reconciliation - Assets (10.200)
- Balance Sheet Reconciliation (10.250)
- Balance Sheet Reconciliation - Liabilities and Equity (10.300)
- Available Capital - Adjusted Retained Earnings and Adjusted AOCI (20.400)
- Available Capital - Deferred Tax Assets (DTA) and Encumbered Assets (20.500)
- Credit Risk - Short-Term Investments (30.100)
- Credit Risk - Bonds (30.200)
- Credit Risk - Asset Backed Securities and Resecuritizations (30.300)
- Credit Risk - Mortgage Loans (30.400)
- Credit Risk - Reinsurance Contracts Held, Receivables and Other Assets (30.500)
- Credit Risk - Leases and Other Loans (30.600)
- Credit Risk - Off-Balance Sheet Exposures (40.100)
- Derivatives Contracts (40.200)
- Derivatives Contracts (40.300)
- Market Risk - Equity Risk and Preferred Shares (50.200)
- Market Risk - Real Estate Risk (50.300)
Show all 26 templatesShow fewer
- Market Risk - Index Linked Products Risk (50.400)
- Market Risk - Currency Risk (50.500)
- Insurance Risk - Non-Participating Products (60.010)
- Insurance Risk - Adjustable Products (60.020)
- Insurance Risk - Participating Products (60.030)
- Insurance Risk - Mortality (60.100)
- Insurance Risk - Longevity (60.200)
- Insurance Risk - Morbidity (60.300)
- Insurance Risk - Lapse (60.400)
- Insurance Risk - Expense (60.500)
Schedules (worksheets) in 2026-lca-licat-tsav-anual-rtn-en.xlsx, named from the workbook's table of contents or schedule titles. Source
Validation rules
2,097 rules, as counted from the OSFI's published material. Software can run them exactly as published. Source
How they are written: Excel workbook, one row per rule (Rule ID, Rule Type, Description and a Formula or Expression column in OSFI's RRS rule syntax, for example [D1020010010] >=0).
How they were counted
Counted 2097 rows with a rule in the 'LCA' sheet of 2026-lca-licat-tsav-validation-en.xlsx (2097 error).
Counts are in the OSFI's own unit, so they are not comparable with other regulators' counts.
Public data
Published firm by firm. OSFI publishes data from this return institution by institution, with industry totals, as CSV files on the Government of Canada open data portal: "LCA - LICAT (Active)" in the Life insurance companies dataset; "LCA - LICAT (Active)" in the Fraternal benefit societies dataset. Source
Where it is published (CSV)
- OSFI financial data: Life insurance companies (open.canada.ca)
Firm by firm · CSV (long format: one row per institution, period and data point address, with English and French labels)
Institution-by-institution data, with industry totals, from OSFI's returns for life insurance companies, one CSV file per return: LCA - LICAT (Active); LCQ - LICAT (Active); LF1 - Life Core Financial Statement Return (Active); LF2 - Life Supervisory Quarterly Return (Active); LF3 - Life Supervisory Annual Return (Active). The dataset is updated quarterly (last updated on the portal 2026-10-11) and also holds 8 CSV files for returns OSFI no longer collects, a data dictionary and a user manual. The dataset page gives 2026 publication dates: monthly returns on or about the 15th of each month; quarterly returns about a week after the due date (Q1 due May 15, published May 23; Q2 due Aug 14, published Aug 22; Q3 due Nov 14, published Nov 22; Q4 due March 1, published March 19). Source
- OSFI financial data: Fraternal benefit societies (open.canada.ca)
Firm by firm · CSV (long format: one row per institution, period and data point address, with English and French labels)
Institution-by-institution data, with industry totals, from OSFI's returns for fraternal benefit societies, one CSV file per return: LCA - LICAT (Active); LCQ - LICAT (Active); LF1 - Life Core Financial Statement Return (Active); LF2 - Life Supervisory Quarterly Return (Active); LF3 - Life Supervisory Annual Return (Active). The dataset is updated quarterly (last updated on the portal 2026-10-11) and also holds 8 CSV files for returns OSFI no longer collects, a data dictionary and a user manual. The dataset page gives 2026 publication dates: monthly returns on or about the 15th of each month; quarterly returns about a week after the due date (Q1 due May 15, published May 23; Q2 due Aug 14, published Aug 22; Q3 due Nov 14, published Nov 22; Q4 due March 1, published March 19). Source
Official documents (7)
The OSFI's own files, with the size and SHA-256 fingerprint of each as downloaded on 11 November 2026, so anyone can tell whether a copy is the same version.
- Reporting Requirements for Life Insurance Companies and Fraternal Benefit Societies
List of returns · HTML · November 2025
- 2026 Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test - Filing Instructions
Instructions · HTML · October 2025
- LCA - 2026 annual return
Template · XLSX · 459.8 KB · 23 September 2025
SHA-256
e479ed3f23c9show in fulle479ed3f23c9ac4cd93f05969587e1562a0e0edfbbbe3ff691b1d48b5739f497 - LCA - 2026 validation rules
Validation rules · XLSX · 172.9 KB · 23 September 2025
SHA-256
7a69a0844fcbshow in full7a69a0844fcb096c17895bc081091f2a0cc18c3038bb5aecce2b437ef9fa79b1 - LCA - 2026 sample XML
Sample · XML · 372.5 KB · 22 January 2026
SHA-256
92e22a3e2e7eshow in full92e22a3e2e7e480c70fdad0d9c69f4d4fea0fce4f8934e78b796782863877d16 - LCA - 2026 sample XSD
Schema · XSD · 1.4 MB · 22 January 2026
SHA-256
2cab07db2699show in full2cab07db269941699532c04cc3d3e4436f211c7bd0cf037c15aa25da6fd3d321 - Manage Financial Returns User Guide for Insurance Companies and Private Pension Plans
Filing rules · PDF · 2.4 MB · 5 February 2024
SHA-256
8365ae545e5ashow in full8365ae545e5a1ad6b3b9e3048c93aeba75708d7dbcbd768ac4a02f9236d4fd95
Sources
Every page and document this return's facts were read from.
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/en/data-forms/reporting-returns/filing-financial-returns/financial-reporting-instructions/2026-life-insurance-capital-adequacy-test-filing-instructions
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/en/data-forms/reporting-returns/filing-financial-returns/reporting-requirements-life-insurance-companies-fraternal-benefit-societies
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/en/about-osfi/progress-our-initiatives/modernizing-we-collect-data-institutions
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2026-lca-licat-tsav-anual-rtn-en.xlsx
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2026-lca-licat-tsav-validation-en.xlsx
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2026-lca-licat-tsav-xml-01-22-2026.xml
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2026-lca-licat-tsav-xsd-01-22-2026.xsd
- osfi-bsif.gc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/rrs_mcr_ins_EN.pdf
- open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/1358284b-26e7-4c69-abd8-398d3da2c270
Knowing exactly what is collected, in what format and under which rules is the first step to real-time supervision. Line4 builds SupTech software for financial regulators that runs checks like these as each return arrives.
Line4's text and records here are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Please credit: “Source: Line4 regulatory submissions library (CC BY 4.0), https://www.line4.ai”. The regulators' documents, forms, taxonomies, rules and data belong to them: see OSFI's reuse terms. This describes what regulators publish. It is not legal or regulatory advice: always rely on the regulator's own text.
Last checked 11 November 2026.
