The Mortgage Services Act replaces a statute that has governed the province since 1972. The shift is from registration to licensing, and the categories change with it.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 5 October 2026
Official sources: BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA)
British Columbia's Mortgage Services Act received Royal Assent on 3 November 2022 and comes into force on 13 October 2026, replacing the Mortgage Brokers Act. The supporting Regulation and Rules were approved on 14 July 2025.
Two dates matter and they are frequently confused. 13 October 2026 is when the Act takes effect. 22 September 2026 is the deadline by which current registrants must have completed BCFSA's mandatory transition education in order to carry their registration into a licence.
The Mortgage Services Act replaces BC's Mortgage Brokers Act on 13 October 2026. Current registrants had to finish BCFSA's transition education by 22 September 2026 to carry their registration into a licence. The new Act creates four activity based licence categories: dealing, trading, administering and lending.
The category most brokers arranging mortgages for borrowers will hold.
Buying and selling mortgage interests.
Servicing mortgage agreements on behalf of a lender.
Lending in your own right rather than intermediating.
Designated individuals become principal brokers, with expanded accountability for the conduct of the brokerage. The framework moves BC closer to how real estate is regulated in the province, which means brokerage-level supervision obligations rather than a light registration.
For a broker choosing where to hang a licence, that changes what to ask. Supervision is no longer a formality, and a brokerage's compliance capability becomes a material part of what you are buying.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally and the Deal Desk places the hard ones, so your hours go to clients.
The MSA permits personal mortgage corporations, allowing eligible brokers to be paid through a personal corporation. The structure has real tax and administrative consequences and is worth planning with an accountant well before it becomes available rather than after.
Some operational detail, including licence terms and the ongoing continuing education cycle after transition, was still being finalised as this page was written. Treat any specific figure you see quoted on that point sceptically, including in industry commentary, and confirm with BCFSA.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally, tracks licence deadlines across all three provinces and keeps the audit trail in a form a regulator can read. What does not move off your desk is the knowledge: you sign the disclosure and the FINTRAC record, so you have to understand them. This is general information rather than legal advice, and the regulator's own guidance is the authority.
BCFSA maintains a Mortgage Services Act section covering transition, education and the Rules and Regulation at bcfsa.ca. Current as of 1 September 2026.
Look up any mortgage agent or broker licence in Ontario, BC or Alberta. Direct links to each free regulator search and what to check before you sign.
Mortgage brokers became FINTRAC reporting entities on 11 October 2024. What that requires: compliance program, client ID, record keeping and reporting.
How CASL applies to mortgage broker marketing: express and implied consent windows, unsubscribe rules, the past client myth and the penalties.
Conflict of interest disclosure in BC is a timing obligation, not a form. What brokers must disclose, when, and how the Mortgage Services Act changes it.
A.I.M.I. Collective brokers are working through the MSA transition with brokerage support behind them.