OSC Publishes Summary Report for Dealers, Advisers and Investment Fund Managers

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today published OSC Staff Notice 33-748 Annual Summary Report for Dealers, Advisers and Investment Fund Managers. 

The report provides key information to registrants to help them comply with registration and compliance requirements under Ontario securities law. Current trends in registration, common deficiencies in compliance reviews, and new and proposed rules and policy initiatives impacting registrants are discussed in the report. In particular, the report outlines staff’s ongoing concerns with know your client and suitability obligations, firms’ gatekeeper role in the registration regime and staff’s increased activity to address registrant conduct matters. 

“While we are pleased that firms are responding to compliance issues more effectively, we are disappointed that, as in previous years, the most common deficiencies relate to know your client and suitability,” said Debra Foubert, Director of Compliance and Registrant Regulation at the OSC. “These basic obligations are a cornerstone of our investor protection regime, and firms need to refocus their resources in these areas.”

The report also outlines areas where the OSC intends to focus its compliance reviews over the coming year. These include firms with a significant number of senior investors as clients; compliance with  new prospectus exemptions; expenses charged by a fund manager to its funds; and funds that have large holdings in illiquid securities and their valuation procedures. Staff also plan to continue  reviewing high-risk firms identified through the 2016 Risk Assessment Questionnaire. 

The OSC’s Registrant Outreach program continues to give registrants the opportunity to hear first-hand from the OSC about compliance-related matters. Registrants are encouraged to visit the Registrant Outreach page on the OSC website for resources and details about upcoming outreach seminars.

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices and to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in the capital markets. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at www.osc.ca

 

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