The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) is proposing new rules on best execution that aim to address the practice of dealers sending orders to U.S. wholesalers.
Specifically, IIROC published a set of proposed amendments to both the trading rules and the dealer rules on Thursday that would consolidate the existing requirements into a single rule on best execution.
The proposals also aim to address concerns about southbound order flow by prohibiting the practice of “sending client orders in bulk to a foreign intermediary for execution outside of Canada without considering other liquidity sources, including liquidity sources in Canada.”
The rule would also explicitly require dealers to adopt, and ensure compliance with, written policies that are reasonably designed to achieve best execution when acting for a client.
Furthermore, the rule requires dealers to train their employees on the firm’s best execution policies, to disclose those policies, and for firms that use other dealers to execute client orders to review that disclosure on behalf of clients.
The proposed amendments were first published for comment in December 2015 and have been revised in response to the feedback that was received, and other consultations with the industry and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).
Comments on the latest edition of the proposals are due Dec. 12.