In keeping pace with the U.S. market reforms, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have initiated a process to evaluate their potential impact on the Canadian equity market structure following the release on recent rule changes announced by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have released a series of proposed amendments for public comment, aimed to improve reporting to investors while also easing the regulatory burden on the industry. The focus is to improve the quality of information provided to investors while also reducing the regulatory burden on investment fund managers. The comment period closes on January 17, 2025.

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The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) has just published its second annual report, Annual Report for 2023-2024, along with its inaugural Investor Advisory Panel (IAP) Annual Report, highlighting the achievements and strategic initiatives for 2023-24. CIRO is almost two years old and says the past year has seen substantial progress in its aims to deliver efficient and cost-effective services.

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The FP Canada Standards Council Conduct Review Panel (CRP) has published practice guidance for Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals and Qualified Associate Financial Planner (QAFP) professionals. The guidance addresses the responsibilities of CFP and QAFP professionals when withdrawing services from their clients, referring clients to other professionals and changing firms or employers.

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The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization’s (CIRO) has determined it will not proceed with proposals to allow mutual fund dealers the ability to offer discretionary accounts, managed accounts and order-execution-only accounts, as part of the rulebook consolidation project. Future proposal development will take place in consultation with the Canadian Securities Administrators, (CSA) as part of a separate policy project, with a separate timeline.

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The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) issued a report, detailing a review of its oversight of the dispute-resolution providers in the insurance industry, after launching an external review of the oversight framework last year. The CCIR has committed to carrying out these reforms by the end of 2025.

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The Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) issued two sets of guidance: A comprehensive new guidance on the design, operation and administration of capital accumulation plans, such as defined-contribution pensions, RRSPs, TFSAs, RESPs and FHSAs and a new guideline on risk management for plan administrators on various risk areas, such as ESG issues, cybersecurity and the use of leverage.

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Statistics Canada has published a report looking at the rise of artificial intelligence and how it will affect multiple industries. The report highlights financial services occupations in business, finance and insurance, are among industries most at risk, compared to jobs considered to have low exposure, such as jobs in trades and construction.

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The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization’s (CIRO) Trading Review and Analysis team’s (TR&A) role is to conduct preliminary reviews of complaints, to determine a breach of the trading rules has occurred. If the TR&A team concludes that there is sufficient evidence of a rule violation, they will refer the case to CIRO’s Enforcement team.

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The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, (OSFI) announced consultations on two files: The public disclosure of cryptoasset exposures and the 2025 life insurance adequacy test (LICAT) guidelines. OSFI has published draft amendments to Pillar 3 Disclosure Guidelines and to the LICAT, which are open for comment, until October 22, 2024.

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