A MIC is a tax structure before it is a lender. The conditions that define one also shape what it can and cannot do with your deal.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 5 October 2026
Official sources: Income Tax Act, section 130.1, Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation, investor disclosures, Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation, investor disclosures, British Columbia Securities Commission, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario
A mortgage investment corporation is a Canadian company that pools investor capital and lends it out on mortgages. What makes it a MIC is not its business model but its tax status: it qualifies under section 130.1 of the Income Tax Act, and that qualification comes with structural conditions.
For a broker, those conditions are not trivia. They explain why a MIC will take some deals and refuse others that look similar, and why MIC money costs what it does.
A mortgage investment corporation, or MIC, is a Canadian company that pools investor money and lends it on mortgages, with its tax status set by section 130.1 of the Income Tax Act. It needs at least 20 shareholders, and no one holder with related persons can own more than 25% of a class. In mid 2026 listed MICs averaged roughly 8.7 to 9.1 percent plus 2 to 4 percent lender fees on first mortgages.
A MIC has to keep residential mortgages, insured deposits and cash above half its book, and above two thirds if it wants the higher leverage limit. That is a constraint on the whole portfolio, which is why a MIC that has been taking commercial or land deals may decline yours for reasons that have nothing to do with the file.
Atrium MIC, listed on the TSX, reported a weighted average rate of 8.69 percent at the end of June 2026. Firm Capital MIC reported 9.13 percent. Smaller MICs and second mortgages price higher.
Fees of 2 to 4 percent of the loan are common on first mortgages, more on seconds. The broker fee sits on top, and both have to be disclosed in writing before the client commits.
Atrium's book averaged 62.5 percent loan to value with 96.9 percent first mortgages. A MIC is underwriting the equity and the exit, not the income.
Short, commonly one year and often interest only, with renewal at the lender's discretion. The exit has to be written into the file before the client signs.
A trust company or credit union that still verifies income and credit, just more flexibly. Real one to three year terms and the lowest cost after an A lender. If the file qualifies here, it goes here.
Pooled investor capital lent on equity. Faster and larger than most individuals, and it will take files a B lender will not: no provable income, a called mortgage, land or construction.
Someone lending their own money, usually through a broker or administrator. The most flexible on small seconds and short bridges, and the least standardised on terms and renewals.
Owns property rather than lending on it. It belongs in a client's investment comparison, not in a conversation about where to place a borrower.
Brokers at A.I.M.I. Collective submit directly to more than 100 lenders, including private and alternative lenders, and the Deal Desk places the files your usual lenders decline.
Our post on MIC vs private lender vs B lender sets out the order we work through them, and our guide to B lending in Canada covers who alternative lenders serve.
A MIC that pays out its net income as dividends during the year or within 90 days after year end can deduct them, so it pays little or no corporate tax. Shareholders are taxed on those dividends as interest income, not at the lower rate for ordinary dividends, while capital gains dividends keep their capital gains treatment. MIC shares are usually eligible for RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs, which is where many investors hold them. Confirm the specific treatment with an accountant before repeating it to a client, because it is the part most often summarised inaccurately.
Romspen and Bridging were investor losses, not borrower ones, but both are a reason to place clients with lenders whose disclosures you can actually read.
Arranging a mortgage is mortgage brokering. Raising money from investors to fund a MIC is securities activity, governed by provincial securities regulators and their prospectus and registration requirements, and the Canadian Securities Administrators have issued staff guidance reminding MIC managers of those obligations. In BC, MICs are overseen by the BC Securities Commission for capital raising and by BCFSA for mortgage activity. In Ontario, a MIC that administers its own mortgages needs a mortgage administrator licence from FSRA.
Those are separate regimes with separate licences. A broker who drifts from placing deals into introducing investors has crossed into different territory, and a mortgage licence does not cover it.
Brokers here submit directly to more than 100 lenders, including major banks, monolines, credit unions, B lenders, private and alternative lenders, with top tier status on every file and no middle layer taking a cut between you and the approval. Weekly lender training covers policy changes and declined files, and the Deal Desk places the files that need a lender you have not worked with before.
Section 130.1 of the Income Tax Act sets out the conditions in full and is published on the federal Justice Laws website. Rates are from public MIC disclosures for the period ending June 2026. Current as of 2 October 2026. This is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
No statute defines an A lender. Where the real lines fall between A, B and private lending in Canada, and what each tier means for a broker placing files.
When a mortgage becomes an investment product sold to investors, a second regulator is involved. Where mortgage brokering ends and securities law starts.
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.
The Deal Desk places the files your usual lenders decline, with the fees and the exit written down before the client signs.