Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to make greater strides in investor protection

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission is enhancing its engagement with investors by integrating the Investor Education Fund (IEF) into its Office of the Investor. The two teams will form a new unified office, the Office of Investor Policy, Education and Outreach (the Office).

The new Office will lead efforts to identify and understand investor issues and concerns through investor engagement and research; coordinate all investor focused initiatives, including investor education and outreach; and ensure investors’ perspectives are considered and addressed in policy and operational activities at the OSC.

The new Office will continue IEF’s strong record of creating high-quality investor education resources, including innovative and interactive research and tools. The leading consumer website established by the IEF, GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, will continue and expand as the OSC's flagship investor website, providing valuable tools for investors.

Investor initiatives are priorities for the OSC and are at the forefront of the global regulatory agenda. The new Office will leverage the OSC’s international work on retail investor education through the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ Committee on Retail Investors (C8), led by Howard Wetston, CEO and Chair of the OSC.

“Investor protection is at the core of what we do – and to do it well, we need to connect directly with investors. This new Office will allow us to engage more investors across Ontario so we can better understand what they need, how they invest and how their concerns should be reflected in our regulatory policies,” said Howard Wetston, CEO and Chair of the OSC.

While the new Office will be officially recognized on April 1, 2015, the IEF and Office of the Investor are already working together on investor education and outreach initiatives.

IEF was founded by the OSC in 2000 to improve financial literacy and investor education in Ontario. Since that time, IEF has become a leader in investor research on topics such as investor attitudes, established a consumer website (GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca) that receives more than 1.8 million visits a year and developed some of the top searched online investing tools such as the RRSP Savings Calculator.

 

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