The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) on Thursday published separate notices that aim to make it easier for investors and the industry to absorb the latest developments in the exempt market.
With the recent introduction of equity crowdfunding, Ontario’s offering memorandum (OM) exemption, and new investment dealer exemptions, the CSA has published a notice which details the status of all of these initiatives, along with other changes to the exempt market that took place earlier in 2015.
The update is intended to benefit the industry and investors, and follows from its effort to modernize the regulatory regime for the exempt market, which is “a major priority” for the regulatory organization, the CSA notice says.
The OSC has published its own notice focusing on the changes that have taken place in Ontario in the wake of its exempt market review, which was launched in 2011. The OSC’s notice includes an overview of each of the exemptions that are now available in Ontario, and a table that compares the features of the various exemptions.
The original aim of the OSC review was to examine the existing accredited investor and minimum amount exemptions in the wake of the financial crisis, the OSC notice says. However, the review later expanded beyond simply reforming those exemptions to deal with investor protection concerns to include reforms designed to enhance access to capital for small companies through the exempt market. This, in turn, led to the recent introduction of new exemptions, including the OM exemption, which took effect Jan. 13, and the equity crowdfunding exemption, which was adopted on Jan. 25.