The Canadian Securities Administrators recently approved amendments to National Instrument 21-101 – Marketplace Operation and National Instrument 23-101 Trading Rules. The amendments, which were first published for comment on April 24, 2014, are intended to reflect developments that have occurred since NI 21-101 and NI 23-101 were last updated.
Significantly, NI 21-101 is amended by adding guidance on business continuity planning, including a requirement to participate in industry-wide business continuity tests. Amendments have been made to enable the disclosure of order and trade information to third parties to facilitate capital markets research, subject to prescribed conditions. Further, a marketplace is now prohibited from making pre and post-trade information available to any person or company before it makes that information available to an information processor (or in its absence, an information vendor). Guidance in the Companion Policy to NI 21-101 has also been amended to clarify that the CSA expect marketplaces to release order and trade information simultaneously to both the information processor and to persons or companies that may receive order and trade information directly from the marketplace.
The amendments are expected to come into force on October 1, 2015. For further information, please consult the CSA Notice of Approval.
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