Ontario’s newest financial services regulatory body, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), has announced its priorities for the sectors it watches over, intending to provide sector-specific burden reductions while maintaining regulatory effectiveness. Currently, the regulator is in consultations with sectoral stakeholders and reviewing…
Effective June 1, 2020, Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges serving Canadians will be required by Canada’s Finance Department to register as Money Service Bureaus (MSBs) with FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) to comply with recent amendments to the Proceeds…
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has lifted some of the regulatory burden for investment fund managers of pooled funds. Fund managers of pooled funds now no longer need to apply for approval to act as trustees. As registrants, the OSC deems that fund managers are…
In April 2018, the Canadian Securities Administrators issued (CSA) CSA Staff Notice 61-303, Soliciting Dealer Requirements and Request for Comment (the CSA Staff Notice and Request for Comment) for stakeholder consultation. After the comment period ended and after reviewing the feedback, the CSA and IIROC…
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have published the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 Enforcement Report (the Report) which details the enforcement actions the regulator took during the past year. As well, the Report highlighted cooperation between different jurisdictions and the investments in new technology that have enabled…
The government of Ontario has announced that a new independent agency, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), will replace both the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) and the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DICO), effective June 8, 2019. The new agency will…
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today commenced an enforcement action against Waterloo, Ontario-based Kik Interactive Inc. (Kik) for what it alleges is an illegal USD $100 million ICO Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The SEC alleges that Kik sold the tokens to U.S….
A Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) is a financing contract used by start-ups and investors where operating capital is exchanged for the right to acquire equity at a future time or event, such as the closing of an equity financing round, an M&A transaction…
On May 14, 2019, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concluded separate settlement agreements with Toronto-based NextBlock Global Limited (NextBlock) and its chief promoter, Alex Tapscott over the making of misleading statements. In June of 2017, Tapscott, who served…
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have taken the first steps to replace the current range of electronic records filing systems used In Canada’s capital markets. The CSA is proposing to replace the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR), the System for Electronic Disclosure…