Investing and Saving
Total Cost Reporting in Canada: What to expect on your statements in 2027
By Jared Kadziolka, CFA 2 October 2026 2 min read
Key takeaways
- An industry-wide upgrade: Total Cost Reporting regulations will enhance your annual statements to show your total investment costs, including underlying fund expenses.
- No changes to your investments or fees: This regulatory change reflects an updated reporting format and does not impact your actual investment costs.
- Our long-standing promise: Providing clarity and transparency has always been a core tenet of how ATB Wealth serves our clients.
In early 2027, Canadian investors will begin receiving enhanced annual statements under a new regulatory framework known as Total Cost Reporting (TCR). This initiative expands upon existing reporting standards to offer a comprehensive, itemized breakdown of all portfolio costs—bringing both direct account charges and embedded fund expenses into clear view.
At ATB Wealth, we view this industry-wide evolution as a welcome step forward. Every advice-based relationship we build starts with an unwavering promise that includes: listening to your goals and aspirations, always acting in your best interest, and ensuring our fees are fair, transparent, and clearly explained. We are glad to see these elevated standards adopted across Canada. Complete openness isn't a new regulatory goal for us—it is simply part of how we fulfil our core client commitments to ensure you always have an advisor you trust.
What is changing under Total Cost Reporting?
Under previous reporting standards, your annual statement focused strictly on direct costs payable to your advisory firm including those deducted directly from your account for ongoing advisory guidance and expertise, portfolio oversight and account administration.
Total Cost Reporting completes the picture by incorporating the indirect product costs embedded within any mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) you hold. Moving forward, these embedded expenses will be clearly displayed as a fund expense ratio (FER), a new term combining a fund’s:
- Management expense ratio (MER): The ongoing management and operational fees built directly into investment funds.
- Trading expense ratio (TER): The underlying transaction costs associated with trading underlying securities within a fund.
By combining direct service charges with embedded fund expenses into a single snapshot, your updated statement will provide a complete, clear picture of your total annual investment costs in plain dollar terms.
What this means for you
While the information on your annual statement will look more detailed, it is important to note what is not changing:
- Your actual fees remain the same: This enhancement alters how expenses are displayed, not what you pay. No new fees or cost increases are associated with this regulatory shift.
- Your day-to-day experience is unchanged: Your portfolio strategy, asset allocation, and personal relationship with your ATB Wealth advisor remain exactly as they were.
- Your net performance is unaffected: The performance numbers and account balances you see have always reflected embedded fund expenses. Total Cost Reporting simply brings them into clearer focus.
Grounded in our core philosophy
While new reporting rules can often seem dry or overly technical, this shift aligns naturally with how we operate at ATB Wealth. We’ve always believed that a true partnership rests on trust, deep expertise, and complete openness. That clarity extends far beyond a fee breakdown and encompasses the value we deliver, the strategies we build, and how your wealth plan is structured to reach your unique goals. Providing a straightforward, complete picture isn't a new requirement for us, it’s how we’ve always done business.
Looking ahead
When your updated statements arrive in early 2027, your ATB Wealth advisor is here to walk through the details with you, answer any questions about your total cost picture, and ensure your plan supports your financial goals.
-
ATB Wealth® (a registered trade name) consists of a range of financial services provided by ATB Financial and certain of its subsidiaries. ATB Investment Management Inc. and ATB Securities Inc. are individually licensed users of ATB Wealth. ATB Securities Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.
The information contained herein has been compiled or arrived at from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness, and ATB Wealth (this includes all the above legal entities) does not accept any liability or responsibility whatsoever for any loss arising from any use of this document or its contents. This information is subject to change and ATB Wealth does not undertake to provide updated information should a change occur. This document may not be reproduced in whole or in part, or referred to in any manner whatsoever, nor may the information, opinions and conclusions contained in it be referred to without the prior consent of the appropriate legal entity using ATB Wealth. This document is being provided for information purposes only and is not intended to replace or serve as a substitute for professional advice, nor as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any investment. Professional legal and tax advice should always be obtained when dealing with legal and taxation issues as each individual’s situation is different.
ATB Wealth experts are ready to listen.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced investor, we can help.