The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) recently released a draft Statement of Priorities for its 2022-2023 fiscal year. Similar to previous years, the Statement of Priorities outlines four themes of focus for the upcoming year, specifically: (i) promoting confidence in Ontario's capital markets; (ii) modernizing the regulatory environment; (iii) facilitating financial innovation; and (iv) strengthening its organizational foundation.
Under these broad goals, the OSC identified a number of specific priorities, including, among other things:
- Finalizing rules for climate change-related disclosures;
- Developing proposals to enhance diversity on boards and executive positions where appropriate;
- Strengthening the oversight of crypto trading platforms;
- Continuing to work towards the implementation of a new self-regulatory organization to replace the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) and the Investment Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC);
- Expanding the access equals delivery model;
- Supporting the implementation of the ban on deferred sales charges and trailing commissions where no suitability determination is required;
- Expanding the application of behavioural insights to security regulation through policy-making and operational programs;
- Strengthening the dispute resolution services available to investors, such as through the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI);
- Continuing to enhance systemic risk oversight;
- Supporting the use of technology and open data in capital markets; and
- Replacing legacy CSA national systems with SEDAR+.
The OSC is accepting stakeholder feedback on its draft Statement of Priorities until December 20, 2021. For more information, see OSC Notice 11-794 Statement of Priorities for Financial Year to end March 31, 2023.
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