Guide · sent by email
Money services business obligations: Canada and the United States compared.
For businesses that move money for customers in both countries, or are about to.
What is in it
Two registration regimes, two different triggers.
Both countries require a money services business to put itself on a register before it operates. It is tempting to treat that as one obligation done twice. It is not. The two regimes ask different questions, and a business can answer no in one country and yes in the other on the same facts.
- The registration trigger in each country, and why they are not the same test
- The provision that catches a business with no presence in Canada at all
- Where a single business is caught by both regimes at once
- Reporting and record-keeping side by side
- The US requirement that is not in the federal rules at all, and catches people late
Roughly 804 words. Every regulatory statement carries the section it rests on, so you can read the provision rather than take our word for it:
Get the guide
Where should we send it?
It arrives as one email. Asking for the guide on its own does not add you to any list. What we do with this.
Not legal advice. Northward is a compliance practice, not a law firm. The guide sets out what the published rules say and how they are applied in practice at different risk appetites. What that means for your business is a conversation. Disclaimer.
Rather just ask?
If the question is specific to your business, a conversation gets further than a guide.