Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)

What Is the Ontario Securities Commission?

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is the biggest securities regulator in Canada, implementing securities laws in the territory of Ontario. As a crown corporation, the OSC is responsible to the provincial government of Ontario.

Understanding the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) manages exchanges, alternative trading systems (ATS) and quotation and trade reporting systems (QTRS) in the area of Ontario. Like practically all securities regulators, the OSC attempts to keep up with market integrity and investor confidence by authorizing securities laws. Specifically, the OSC implements the Securities Act and the Commodity Futures Act, both of Ontario.

The OSC creates securities rules by talking with the Canadian public, advisory councils and international organizations. The commission is enabled to make a scope of moves to implement compliance with Ontario securities law. It can issue a cease trade order, order the restatement and refiling of financial statements, and add conditions to a registration. It can likewise, following an enforcement continuing, impose sanctions and even fines, however recuperating damages for cheated investors isn't inside its domain.

The Ontario Securities Commission and SROs

The OSC at present perceives two self-regulatory organizations (SRO), the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA). The three organizations split compliance audit duties. The OSC audits advisers, exempt market dealers, grant plan dealers and fund managers. The IIROC audits investment dealers and futures commission vendors. The MFDA audits mutual fund dealers. These regulatory bodies might subject a firm to a compliance survey in view of grievances, as part of a broad sweep or at random.

Limitations of the Ontario Securities Commission

While the OSC's command to "encourage fair and efficient markets" may appear to be very broad, there are limits on its ability to control in legal gray areas. For instance, in 2017, Canadian markets were upset by illegal short and distort campaigns, in which short dealers spread false data to drive down the price of the stock they're shorting. At the point when investors demanded the OSC make a move, the commission made sense of that there is much of the time little it can manage without specific evidence of intentionally fraudulent statements. That can be challenging to track down, and now and again, short-dealers are shaking markets without depending on false data by any means. They are just distinguishing a company they accept is overvalued and shorting it while actively campaigning at its cost to drop. While the OSC and IIROC have certain devices to put a damper on the short selling of a stock, they are ordinarily averse to utilizing them, dreading their impedance might be more disruptive than the short campaign.