The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is hosting an industry consultation session on the prospect of banning embedded commissions, the Quebec securities regulator announced on Tuesday.
The AMF’s investment funds branch will host the session at its Montreal office on May 12 to discuss a consultation paper published earlier this year by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), which contemplates possible policy action that would require advisors to set compensation directly with their clients by banning embedded third-party commissions.
The AMF says that the session is being held to solicit feedback on the potential effects of banning embedded commissions on investors and market participants, and to consider possible alternative measures that could address regulators’ concerns with the existing industry model.
Read: The end of embedded commissions? How we got here
“The AMF reiterates that its goal is to conduct an in-depth review of the potential effects on investors and market participants of discontinuing embedded commissions, including on the provision and accessibility of advice for Quebec investors and on business models in Quebec,” the regulator says in a news release.
Since September, the AMF has participated in 26 meetings with various parties, primarily mutual fund dealers, to gather feedback on the paper. “These meetings have been very productive and allowed the AMF to gather additional feedback and gain a better understanding of certain issues raised in the consultation paper,” it says.
The also says that it intends to participate in other in-person consultations over the coming weeks, and plans to organize discussion groups with individual investors too.
The comment period on the CSA paper runs until June 9.