The Money Services Business Register is a public database containing information about the registration status of companies providing financial services in Canada. For businesses involved in money transfers, currency exchange, or the issuance of payment instruments, counterparty checks through this register become a mandatory part of the due diligence procedure. The database is updated monthly and contains up-to-date information on the legality of partners’ operations.
The openness of the register solves several tasks at once: clients can make sure that the company is indeed registered, banks check the status before opening an account, and regulators monitor compliance with anti-money laundering requirements. FINTRAC updates the MSB register on a monthly basis, but it is important to understand that up to a month may pass between a company’s data changing and those changes appearing in the public database.
Many business owners mistakenly believe that MSB registration is a license that confirms the quality of services or the reliability of the company. This is a critical misconception. Registration with FINTRAC does not mean approval or licensing of the business; it only indicates that the company has met the legal requirements for registration, and FINTRAC does not issue licenses or registration certificates.
In practice, this means that a company may be registered but still violate compliance requirements, have problems with banks, or even be under investigation. Registration is only the starting point for lawful activity, not a guarantee of trustworthiness. When choosing partners, MapleBiz recommends conducting a multi-level check, including analysis of the company’s litigation history, reputational risks, and financial transparency.
It is important to verify the registration details listed in the register, such as the company name, number, and status. Anyone can use the public database free of charge to search for information, but interpreting the results requires an understanding of the nuances of Canadian regulation.
All fields are searchable in FINTRAC’s online register. You can search using the company’s legal name, trade name, MSB registration number, or address. At the same time, it is important to consider that one company may have several trade names, and foreign MSBs may be registered at the address of their representative in Canada.
Practical advice: if a search by exact name does not produce results, try using a partial match or check different spelling variants (with abbreviations, without punctuation). Sometimes companies are registered under a legal name that differs from the well-known brand. When checking counterparties, the MapleBiz team uses a comprehensive approach: parallel searches across several parameters and matching the data with provincial corporate registries.
A company’s status in the register is a key indicator of its right to operate. Registered means that the business is currently registered with FINTRAC, and this is the only status under which a company may legally provide MSB services.
Expired is assigned to a company that did not renew its registration after two years. This is a critical status: a business with expired status has no right to operate as an MSB. If the renewal application is not submitted before the deadline, the status immediately becomes Expired, and the company will have to apply as a new registrant — a much more burdensome and lengthy process.
Revoked means that the company is no longer registered due to failing to respond to a FINTRAC request, failing to cooperate with the regulator, or being deemed ineligible for registration. Working with such a counterparty carries serious reputational and regulatory risks. Ceased is a voluntary termination, when the company itself notified FINTRAC that it had stopped providing services.
An important detail: if a company has submitted a renewal application but the registration period has already expired, it remains registered with FINTRAC until the renewal is processed and will have the status Registered. This creates a temporary window of uncertainty for partners — outwardly the status is correct, but the renewal process may reveal problems.
For companies that regularly check a large number of counterparties, manual searching is inefficient. FINTRAC provides access to the full database, which is critical for automating compliance processes.
The public register contains the company’s legal and trade names, MSB registration number, addresses and contacts, types of services provided (currency exchange, money transfers, cheque handling), registration date and expiry date, and current registration status. For foreign MSBs, information about the Canadian representative is also provided.
FINTRAC cannot provide additional information about the business beyond what is available in the MSB register. This means that data on owners, financial statements, regulatory claims, or fines is not available through the public register and requires separate requests or investigations.
A downloadable version of the register is available. The file is updated monthly and contains a complete list of all registered, expired, revoked, and ceased companies. This makes it possible to build your own monitoring systems: upload data to a CRM, set up automatic checks when adding a new counterparty, and track changes in partners’ statuses.
When working with exported data, it is critically important to remember the monthly update delay. If you downloaded the register on the 5th and a company lost its registration on the 10th, you will only learn about it after the next update. For high-risk transactions, an additional online check immediately before concluding the deal is recommended.
One of the most common mistakes MSB owners make is treating registration as permanent. Unlike incorporation, MSB registration is not permanent and must be renewed every two years. Missing the deadline leads to the immediate loss of the right to operate and requires going through the entire registration process again from scratch.
FINTRAC does not charge registration fees. This applies both to initial registration and to renewal every two years. The absence of a government fee is an important competitive advantage of the Canadian jurisdiction compared with other countries where licensing a fintech business costs tens of thousands of dollars annually.
However, “free” does not mean “costless.” Companies incur indirect expenses: staff time for document preparation, updating compliance procedures, obtaining new criminal record checks for key individuals, and legal support in non-standard situations. For a business renewing for the first time, the process can take from several days to a month depending on the complexity of the ownership structure and the completeness of the documentation.
Registration is valid for two years, and it must be renewed before it expires. FINTRAC no longer sends email reminders about the expiration of the MSB registration period, and you should not expect a notification from FINTRAC. This is a critical policy change that many MSB owners are unaware of.
Operating without valid registration exposes the company to FINTRAC administrative monetary penalties, and these penalties are public and can damage reputation. Moreover, an expired status often leads to frozen or closed accounts, loss of correspondent relationships, and reputational damage.
In practice, banks check the status of their MSB clients in the public register every month. If they discover an expired status, they are required to block transactions until registration is restored. For a business, this means a halt in cash flow, loss of clients, and a long process of rebuilding the bank’s trust even after the problem has been fixed.
The MapleBiz team specializes in comprehensive legal support for fintech companies and MSBs. We take care of registration renewal in the following cases: when the ownership structure has changed since the initial registration, when new types of services or operating geographies are added, if the company has received a clarification request from FINTRAC and does not understand which documents are required, when the business has no internal compliance officer or the officer has changed, or when the expiration date is approaching and there is no time for independent preparation.
We ensure compliance with all deadlines, prepare an updated document package, and interact with FINTRAC on behalf of the client. Our support is especially valuable in non-standard situations: changes in beneficial owners, business restructuring, or questions from the regulator. Timely contact with MapleBiz helps avoid registration delays and the associated risks.
MSB registration is not a static document but a dynamic record that requires constant updating. Changes in the business must be reflected in FINTRAC data immediately, otherwise the company risks receiving revoked status.
When MSB information changes — including products, locations, key personnel such as the Compliance Officer, ownership, or agents — this information must be updated with FINTRAC within 30 days. This is a strict requirement with no exceptions.
Typical changes that require notification include: a change of the head office address or any customer service location, the appointment of a new director or a person owning 20% or more of the company, a change in the compliance officer’s contact details, adding or removing agents, expanding the list of services provided, or changing the company name. To update MSB registration information, the first step is to complete the change form on FINTRAC’s website and submit it within 30 days of the change.
It is important to distinguish between the Change Form and the Renewal Form — these are different documents for different purposes. The Change Form is used for ongoing changes during the two-year period, while the Renewal Form is used to renew the registration itself after two years. Confusion between these forms is a common cause of refusals and delays on FINTRAC’s part.
Working with government regulators requires understanding not only formal requirements but also established practice, typical questions, and the expectations of compliance officers. MapleBiz provides a full range of services for interacting with FINTRAC: initial MSB and foreign MSB registration, timely renewal every two years, preparation and submission of change forms for any business updates, responses to clarification requests from the regulator, and representation of the client’s interests in disputed situations.
Our experience in interpreting FINTRAC requests is especially valuable. The regulator uses standardized wording, but different requirements may be hidden behind it depending on the specifics of the business. We help avoid situations where a company submits formally correct but factually incomplete documents, which leads to repeated requests and delays. Contacting MapleBiz at the stage of receiving a notice from FINTRAC significantly speeds up the process and minimizes the likelihood of refusal or revocation of registration.
