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Letter Summary:
The OSC has restated its 5 priority areas, being: deliver strong investor protection, deliver effective compliance, supervision and enforcement, deliver responsive regulation, promote financial stability through effective oversight and be an innovative accountable and efficient organization. Some specific action items under the priority of investor protection includes publishing regulatory reforms addressing best interests, publishing targeted reforms to NI 31- 103 and publishing policy recommendations and provisions to address embedded commissions. The OSC also intends to initiate work on other aspects of NI 31-103 including titles and proficiency.
Overview of the Council’s Comments:
The council is supportive of the OSC statement of priorities, particularly as it pertains to investor protection. For example, the council is strongly supportive of a best interest standard between advisors and their clients, the OSC Seniors Strategy and for enhanced compliance with the recommendations of the Ombudsman.
The council also supports OSC’s responsive regulation approach towards financial technologies. We believe it is important that regulations are sufficiently flexible to allow for the emergence and application of new technologies while still preserving investor protection.