The Canadian Securities Administrators have published their 2016 Enforcement Report (Report) describing the securities law enforcement process and analyzing enforcement results from 2016. The Report discusses a variety of enforcement matters, including number and type of proceedings commenced and results of enforcement proceedings.
A subset of the Report's findings include:
- There were 109 enforcement matters concluded in 2016, compared to 145 cases concluded in 2015. A matter is concluded when a decision is issued or a settlement is reached.
- There were 56 enforcement matters commenced in 2016 compared to 108 matters commenced in 2015.
- The majority of the concluded and commenced matters in 2016 were related to illegal distributions of securities with the second highest frequency of matters being related to fraud. These results followed a similar pattern to 2015.
- In 2016, 57% of concluded matters were decided by a contested hearing before a tribunal. A settlement was reached in 21% of concluded matters and a court decision was issued in 22% of concluded matters.
- The aggregate amount of fines, penalties and other similar payments that were ordered in 2016 was approximately $62 million compared to approximately $138 million in 2015. The aggregate amount of restitution, compensation and disgorgement ordered in 2016 was approximately $350 million compared to approximately $112 million in 2015.
The Report also summarized certain cases in the areas of fraud, illegal distributions and market manipulation, among others.
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.
