Insurance Companies Act — I-11.8 554
Permitted investments 554 (1) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), a society may acquire control of, or acquire or increase a substantial investment in, (a) a company or a society; (b) an insurance corporation incorporated or formed by or under an Act of the legislature of a province; or (c) an entity that is incorporated or formed, and regulated, otherwise than by or under an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province and that is primarily engaged outside Canada in a business that, if carried on in Canada, would be the business of insurance. Permitted investments (2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), a society may acquire control of, or acquire or increase a substantial investment in, an entity, other than an entity referred to in any of paragraphs (1)(a) to (c), whose business is limited to one or more of the following: (a) engaging in any financial service activity or in any other activity that a property and casualty company is permitted to engage in under subsection 440(2) or section 441 or 442, other than paragraph 441(1)(h); (b) acquiring or holding shares of, or ownership interests in, entities in which a society is permitted under this Part to hold or acquire; (c) engaging in the provision of any services exclusively to any or all of the following, so long as the entity is providing those services to the society or any member of the society’s group: (i) the society, (ii) any member of the society’s group, (iii) any entity that is primarily engaged in the business of providing financial services, (iv) any permitted entity in which an entity referred to in subparagraph (iii) has a substantial investment, or (v) any prescribed person, if it is doing so under prescribed terms and conditions, if any are prescribed; (d) engaging in any activity that a society is permitted to engage in, other than an activity referred to in paragraph (a) or (e), that relates to (i) the promotion, sale, delivery or distribution of a financial product or financial service that is provided by the society or any member of the society’s group, or (ii) if a significant portion of the business of the entity involves an activity referred to in subparagraph (i), the promotion, sale, delivery or distribution of a financial product or financial service that is provided by any other entity that is primarily engaged in the business of providing financial services; (e) engaging in the activities referred to in the definition closed-end fund , mutual fund distribution entity or mutual fund entity in subsection 490(1); and (f) engaging in prescribed activities, under prescribed terms and conditions, if any are prescribed. Permitted infrastructure entities (2.1) Subject to subsection (3), a society may — under any prescribed terms and conditions — acquire control of, or acquire or increase a substantial investment in, a permitted infrastructure entity. Restriction (3) A society may not acquire control of, or acquire or increase a substantial investment in, an entity whose business includes any activity referred to in any of paragraphs (2)(a) to (e), or in any regulation made under paragraph 2.2(b), if the entity engages in the business of accepting deposit liabilities or if the activities of the entity include (a) activities that a property and casualty company is not permitted to engage in under any of sections 466, 469 and 478; (b) any financial intermediary activity that exposes the entity to material market or credit risk, including the activities of a finance entity, a factoring entity and a financial leasing entity; (b.1) the activities of a specialized financing entity; (c) dealing in securities, except as may be permitted under paragraph (2)(e) or as may be permitted to a company under paragraph 440(2)(b); (d) acquiring control of or acquiring or holding a substantial investment in another entity unless (i) in the case of an entity, other than a permitted infrastructure entity, that is controlled by the society, the society itself would be