The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has provided stakeholders with a glimpse into the OSC's goals for the coming year as published in its Statement of Priorities on June 9, 2016. The Statement of Priorities follows the draft Statement of Priorities published on March 10, 2016.
The Statement of Priorities enumerates five overarching regulatory goals for 2016-2017:
- Deliver strong investor protection
- Deliver responsive regulation
- Deliver effective compliance, supervision and enforcement
- Promote financial stability through effective oversight
- Be an innovative, accountable and efficient organization
Under these goals, the OSC intends to, among other things:
- Implement regulatory reforms that improve the advisor/client relationship by publishing and conducting consultations on proposed regulatory provisions to create a best interest standard and publishing and finalizing an analysis of advisor compensation practices;
- Continue the development and implementation of OTC derivatives regulation by introducing mandatory, centralized clearing for certain OTC derivatives and proposing a registrant regulation framework for derivatives market participants;
- Monitor the impact of recent regulatory changes including the Client Relationship Model – Phase 2 (CRM2) and Point of Sale amendments and conduct targeted disclosure reviews related to gender diversity on boards and in executive positions;
- Support investors in the expanded exempt market through a risk based supervision program for issuers, registrants and portals;
- Expand the OSC's efforts in investor engagement, research, education and outreach, to help investors build their knowledge, understanding and confidence in planning for their investment goals and retirement finances; and
- Pursue enforcement action against fraud and serious securities law violations, including by implementing the OSC Whistleblower Program proposed in October 2015.
In response to a comment on the OSC's draft Statement of Priorities from stakeholders requesting that " say-on-pay" and shareholder democracy should be included in the Statement of Priorities, the OSC noted that work is continuing on these issues as part of individual branch business plans despite these issues not being identified as one of the OSC's key priorities.
For further information, please see OSC Notice 11-775 Notice of Statement of Priorities for Financial Year to End March 31, 2017.
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