The federal Department of Finance yesterday announced that the federal government, Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have signed a Memorandum of Agreement setting out the terms and conditions of a Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System. As we discussed in July, the Finance Minister had recently stated that the new regulator could be in operation by next year.
Under the proposed cooperative system, participating provincial and territorial jurisdictions would enact uniform legislation addressing all matters in respect of the regulation of capital markets within their jurisdictions. Complementary federal legislation would address criminal matters and systemic risk in national capital markets and data collection. Meanwhile, a common regulator, the Capital Markets Regulatory Authority, would administer the provincial and federal legislation and regulations under authority delegated by the participating jurisdictions.
A backgrounder setting out the key features of the cooperative system was also released, as were consultation drafts of the proposed federal Capital Markets Stability Act and the proposed provincial Capital Markets Act, as well as commentary on the governance and legislative framework. Comments are being accepted until November 7, 2014.
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