Task Force To Examine Content Of Securities Regulation

Oliver notes that recent reform efforts — the wise person’s committee, Ontario’s five-year review, the Uniform Securities Law project and Ontario’s new committee charged with defining a model for a single regulator — all focus on structure. But, he says, “Content is more important.” The so-called “blue ribbon” task force is expected to undertake research in five major areas: individual investor protection; the costs and effectiveness of governance; access to capital; the regulatory burden; and enforcement. The investor protection effort will focus on areas such as effective disclosure, technology, sophisticated investor rules, whether new account opening documents are needed, whether fee disclosure should be enhanced and if investment performance reporting should be improved. It will also scrutinize prospectus requirements, attempt to divine the system’s proper place on the continuum between rules-based and principles-based regulation and study the effectiveness of enforcement. It will not consider questions of jurisdiction. “I think there’s always scope for looking at these issues with fresh eyes,” says David Brown, outgoing chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission, although he cautions that fatigue may be setting in with all the task forces and committees that have consulted and studied securities regulation recently. http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=29368&IdSection=144&cat=144

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