The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is planning a roundtable to examine the issues raised in a discussion paper on mutual fund fees that was released late last year by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).
The OSC announced Tuesday that it will hold a roundtable on June 7 at the commission “to further explore and discuss the issues” set out in the CSA paper on mutual fund fees.
The paper, which is out for comment until April 12, spells out regulatory concerns with the industry’s current fee structure, and proposes a variety of possible options to address conflicts of interest posed by embedded trailer commissions, including everything from banning trailers to unbundling them, capping commissions, or requiring advisors to provide a minimum level of service.
When it released the paper last December, the CSA indicated that it also planned to hold roundtable discussions to explore the ideas in the paper, and the OSC notes that other provincial regulators may hold similar consultations.
For its meeting, the OSC says that its staff will organize a panel featuring investors, various segments of the mutual fund industry, and other financial industry stakeholders. It asks those who are interested in participating in the roundtable to first submit written comments on the paper by April 12.
Once it has a list of interested participants, the OSC will finalize the panelists in order to “reflect the diversity of views on the subject”. It expects to issue a notice by May 17, with a final agenda and list of panelists.