Canadian securities regulation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canadian securities regulation is managed through laws and agencies established by Canada's 13 provincial and territorial governments. Each province and territory has a securities commission or equivalent authority.
Unlike any other major federations, Canada does not have a securities regulatory authority at the federal government level. Provincial governments began to establish regulatory agencies in 1912 (in Manitoba) under their constitutional authority over property and civil rights in each province. The federal government likely has parallel constitutional authority to regulatory securities under its power over trade and commerce but, despite an almost continuous national debate about the subject, the federal parliament has never chosen to enact securities legislation because of opposition from most provinces other than Ontario.
The current structure has resulted in operational inefficiencies and there have been calls by groups to consolidate the provincial regulatory bodies into a single combined entity.
The largest of the provincial regulators is the Ontario Securities Commission. Other significant provincial regulators are the British Columbia and Alberta securities commissions, and the Quebec regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers. The provincial and territorial regulators work together to coordinate and harmonize regulation of the Canadian capital markets through the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). The major provincial securities regulators also participate in various international co-operative organizations and arrangements.
The CSA has focused its efforts on:
- developing uniform rules and guidelines for securities market participants;
- reducing duplication through a mutual reliance system, under which a principal jurisdiction works on an application and the other jurisdictions rely on that work in making their decisions; and
- developing national electronic systems through which regulatory filings can be made with and processed by all jurisdictions.
The Canadian Securities Industry is also regulated by 3 self-regulatory organizations: the IDA (Investment Dealers Association), the MFDA (Mutual Fund Dealers Association), and RS (Market Regulation Services, Inc.) The Canadian Securities Administrators oversee these self-regulatory organizations and rely on them as front-line regulators of securities dealers and their representatives.
