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Summary:
With a new operating year upon us, we wanted to take this opportunity to refresh this newsletter (slightly) and note some comings and goings with gratitude.
You’ll continue to see updates here into the future on responsive comment letters to regulatory consultations from the Canadian Advocacy Council, and the activities in support of GIPS standards® awareness and adoption, and professionalism in the investment performance community from the Canadian Investment Performance Council. We’ll also supplement these updates with tidbits from CFA Societies Canada’s proactive engagement of regulators, government, and policymakers on advocacy priorities, and progress on strategic partnerships where our interests align with others. We’ll also keep you updated on new projects and initiatives that don’t fit nicely into one of these categories, but we feel need action and our attention. We hope this will keep you informed, generate interest and engagement, and drive broader awareness of our scope of activities on members’ behalf in Canada.
Turning to the comings and goings, we have new leadership in place for our committees for the year ahead, but we should note that with the new leadership teams in place, Doug Sarro’s term as Chair of the Canadian Advocacy Council has now come to an end. He has been a transformative influence in leading the CAC for the past two years and has been instrumental in leading the subject matter expertise of the Council and the broader organization to new heights in areas of securities regulation and law. He was also a key contributor to CFA Societies Canada’s intervention in Lundin v. Markowich at the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of investor interests. We’re expecting a decision there imminently and are hoping to have been influential.
Looking ahead, the fall is already set to be a busy time of responding to regulatory comment processes, and we were glad to see the CSA prominently featuring our recent calls to focus on regulatory harmonization in its just-released 2025-2028 Business Plan (see the preamble particularly for this discussion). We’ll continue with our proactive advocacy to regulators on regulatory harmonization and the state of Canada’s investment ecosystem, where we’re making progress. We’ll also be engaging further with government, policymakers, and strategically aligned stakeholders on the case for the asset management industry as strategic to Canada’s economy and plans for growth, and the need to encourage entrepreneurship for a healthy sector. More to come!
I’d also highlight that effective January 1, 2026, CIRO’s new proficiency model takes effect, with significant new recognition for CFA Program in the form of exam waivers. CFA charterholders or recent passers of the Level 1 exam will be able to avail themselves of a waiver for the introductory CSIE exam, and either of the qualifying ‘segment’ exams – Retail or Institutional. This process runs through the CIRO dealer member firm at the time of registration, so there’s no action to take on an individual level to qualify. See CIRO’s proficiency website for more details on the new model.
Michael Thom, CFA
Managing Director
CFA Societies Canada