Goal sign drawn with chalk on blackboardflytosky11/Getty Images/iStockphoto
So long, recovery. Hello, investor protection.
That's the shift in focus the Canadian Securities Administrators are making to their priorities for the next three years.
The CSA, an overarching group for provincial regulators, spent the last few years focused on the changes stemming from financial crisis, according to its business plan report released on Tuesday. Now, it's focused on improving the country's regulatory framework. There are seven initiatives in total.
The first priority for the three year period from 2013 to 2016 is enhanced retail investor protection, which it will approach both through changes to disclosure requirements for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds and continuing to talk about mutual fund fees.
The CSA is also reviewing the exempt market and the way small- and medium-sized businesses raise capital. That starts with a reassessment of what it should take to be an "accredited investor" in the country. The CSA began that discussion in 2011, through a consultation process.
The other side of the capital raising review includes another look at crowdfunding regulation. The CSA wants to provide access to capital for businesses, but not at the expense of protecting investors. The OSC, for example, recently approved its first online investment platform.
Concerns about weaknesses in the current proxy voting infrastructure will be assessed. And on the market regulation front, the CSA wants to put an OTC Derivatives regulatory framework in place.
In the next five years CSA data will be come easier to access as systems such as document filing systems SEDI and SEDAR are merged into "a single, intuitive, secure filing system for regulators and market participants."
And the CSA is even cracking down on how it cracks down. It will put in place new surveillance tools, better ways to share data and possibly even a consolidated case management system of some kind to increase enforcement effectiveness.
(Jacqueline Nelson is a Globe and Mail Financial Services Reporter.)
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