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OSC – Statement of Priorities 2025-2026
Letter Summary:
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is seeking feedback from stakeholders on its proposed Statement of Priorities for 2025-2026 (SoP), which includes initiatives we will undertake in support of the OSC’s 2024-2030 Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan), published in May 2024.
Overview of the Council’s Comments:
The Canadian Advocacy Council of CFA Societies Canada (CAC) provided feedback on the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) proposed Statement of Priorities (SoP) for Fiscal Year 2025-2026. Key points include:
Enhancing the Experience of Individual Investors: The CAC supports the OSC’s focus on understanding continuing investor challenges, particularly the costs and value-for-money of market data, trading services, and investment advice. It suggests the OSC study innovative initiatives in other jurisdictions.
Investor Education and Outreach Programs: The CAC encourages collaboration across stakeholders, agencies, governments and industry to improve investor education, focusing on structural and scalable solutions rather than just producing more potentially duplicative content. It highlights the need for better investor knowledge on investment and advice options and the various business models (and their commensurate costs) in the industry.
Conflicts of Interest: The CAC remains concerned about conflicts arising from firms’ proprietary product offerings in certain channels/lines of business, and urges the OSC to conduct research and provide further guidance on managing these conflicts in a competition-positive and client-centered way.
Dynamically Right-Sizing Regulation: The CAC recommends the OSC address the narrow interpretation of experience requirements for advising representatives and calls for a more flexible approach that aligns with contemporary business models and practitioner experience. It also emphasizes the need for a policy project to address educational proficiency requirements in light of upcoming changes to CIRO licensing exams.
Sustainability-related Regulation: The CAC urges the OSC to formalize clear, codified sustainability-related regulations and disclosure practices for investment funds, as the current guidance may lead to unclear disclosure and compliance expectations.