Investors
How We Help Protect Investors
As a regulatory agency, the OSC provides protection to investors by making and enforcing rules governing the securities industry in Ontario. Specifically, the OSC administers and enforces the Securities Act (Ontario) and the Commodity Futures Act (Ontario).
Making rules
The OSC makes rules, policies and regulations that aim to prevent misconduct and maintain the integrity of the markets. See Rule-making for current regulatory initiatives of particular interest to investors.Monitoring compliance
The OSC monitors market participants to ensure that they comply with the rules. For example, we conduct reviews of selected disclosure documents to make sure public companies and investment funds are meeting their disclosure requirements.The OSC also monitors compliance with Ontario securities law by registered individuals and firms who are not regulated by a self-regulatory organization, such as the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada or the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.
If OSC staff cannot resolve their concerns about non-compliance by an individual or a firm that we regulate, the OSC can take a number of actions. For example, we can issue a cease trade order on an issuer’s securities, order a public company to restate and refile its financial statements, or impose terms and conditions on a registration. Where appropriate, the matter may be referred to the OSC Enforcement Branch.
Enforcing rules
The OSC investigates alleged breaches of Ontario securities law, such as illegal insider trading, abusive trading practices and misleading disclosure. We have broad powers and a variety of tools to help prevent, detect and deter investment fraud.For example, the OSC Boiler Room unit investigates and takes regulatory action against perpetrators of investment fraud and illegal distributions, such as telemarketing promotions of fraudulent stocks. In many cases, they are able to shut down the operations of fraud artists, helping to protect investors before money is lost.
We have the authority to impose sanctions on individuals and companies that contravene securities laws. The OSC can ban individuals from leadership roles in public companies, and order firms and individuals to disgorge ill-gotten gains, among other sanctions. However, as a regulatory agency, we do not normally recover money for investors.
Provincial securities legislation also gives the OSC the authority to go to the Ontario courts to prosecute accused wrongdoers and send a strong message of deterrence.
