On December 1st, the Ontario Government announced it was launching consultations seeking public input to identify any "unclear, outdated, redundant or unnecessarily costly" financial services or insurance regulation in Ontario, with the aim to modernize and improve such regulation and achieve a regulatory regime that supports innovation and growth, while at the same time protecting the public interest. These consultations specifically include the following:
- Provincial credit union legislation
- Provincial mortgage brokering legislation
- Provincial loan and trust corporations legislation
- Provincial insurance legislation
- the Financial Services Commission of Ontario ("FSCO") Act.
The consultations come as Ontario is in the process of creating a new provincial financial services regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (the "FSRA"), which will replace and consolidate existing provincial financial services regulators, including FSCO. For more detail about the FSRA, please see our earlier legal update "Review Panel Recommends Creation of New Ontario Financial Services Regulator". The Ontario government recently confirmed in its intention to move forward with the creation of the FSRA in its fiscal update on November 14, 2016.
The consultation process is open until January 31, 2017 with a final report detailing the findings to be made available July 31, 2017.
The consultations do not extend to securities regulation (given the ongoing efforts to harmonize these regulations nationally through the proposed Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System) or banking regulation (falling under federal jurisdiction).
To view original article, please click here
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
