The Financial Post reports in its Friday, Sept. 27, edition that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions initially rejected a call from Canada's Competition Bureau to apply mortgage stress testing equally at renewal. The Post's Barbara Shecter writes that the OSFI has now changed its stance. The OSFI's Quinn Watson announced that the regulator plans to formally inform the banking industry in November about the new policy. The new policy states that "straight switches" of an uninsured mortgage to a new financial institution will not require the new lender to assess the borrower using the minimum qualifying rate stress test. These switches must be on the current amortization schedule and loan amount. Industry players complained about the imbalance of the stress test requirement when changing banks versus staying with the same bank at renewal. In 2023, the Department of Finance clarified that insured mortgages did not need to pass the stress test when switching to a different lender at renewal. In March, the federal Competition Bureau stated that those with uninsured mortgages should be able to switch between federally regulated financial institutions without facing the stress test again.