- with Senior Company Executives, HR and Finance and Tax Executives
- with readers working within the Accounting & Consultancy, Insurance and Healthcare industries
Key changes are in the works to the New Brunswick Securities Act which registered firms in the Province should note. An Act to Amend the Securities Act received Royal Assent from the Province on December 12, 2025. The Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick will be granted additional enforcement tools, such as improved safeguards for confidential informants and whistleblowers, the ability to impose materially higher fines (from $1 million to $5 million) aimed at promoting compliance and discouraging misconduct, and broader powers to impose administrative penalties by notice for issues that do not necessitate a formal hearing.
There will also be a new explicit prohibition on taking measures of reprisal against another person, because that the other person has, in good faith, among other things sought advice about making a disclosure or expressed an intent to make a disclosure of wrongdoing or made a disclosure of wrongdoing to the Commission.
In addition, new provisions will regulate misleading promotional activities, which include a representation that by itself or together with one or more other activities encourages or reasonably could be expected to encourage a person (a) to purchase, not purchase, trade, or not trade a security, or (b) to trade or not trade a derivative. Among other prohibitions, no person will be permitted to make a statement that the person knows or ought reasonably to know contains a misrepresentation while engaging in a promotional activity.
There will also be enhanced fund-on-fund investment restrictions like those imposed by other provinces, as well as a framework for dispute resolution services.
Interestingly, the Executive Director may, having regard to a registrant's or issuer's past conduct with respect to the use of advertising and sales literature, order that the registrant or issuer file, at least seven days before it is used, copies of all advertising and sales literature which the registrant or issuer proposes to use in connection with trading in securities or derivatives.
Supporting rules for these amendments will be drafted in future, with opportunities for stakeholder feedback on proposed changes at that time.
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.
