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….
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…
On April 18, 2019, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), along with seven participating jurisdictions, released its oversight review (the Review) of the Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). The risk-based review of IIROC’s functional areas and key processes was carried out under the mandates of…
On April 25, 2019, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) published Rule Notice and Request for Comment 19-0076, (the rule notice and request for comment) for a period ending July 24, 2019, regarding two proposed alternative forms of disciplinary action. The two proposed…
On April 12 2019, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) published its latest guidance on the TSX Sandbox, TSX Staff Notice 2019-0002 (the Staff Notice). The Toronto Stock Exchange created the TSX Sandbox to facilitate listing applications that ordinarily would not satisfy the requirements and guidelines…
The most recent guidance published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) goes even further to reinforce the importance of the concept of the “investment contract” and the Howey Test when determining if a digital asset is a security. The SEC relies heavily upon the…