The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) announced on Thursday that it’s pushing back plans to consider a possible ban on embedded mutual fund commissions, such as trailer fees, until the New Year.
Although the CSA had promised to publish a consultation paper proposing reforms to the existing mutual fund fee structures by the end of 2016, the paper won’t be released until Jan. 10, 2017, at which point it will then go out for an extended comment period of 150 days.
The CSA indicates that the delay reflects “feedback from stakeholders that it would be beneficial to review the consultation paper following the holiday season, so they have time to adequately review and prepare comments.”
The regulators say they’re “committed to having a productive consultation process and receiving specific input on the issues raised in the consultation paper,” which is why they’re delaying publication and planning an extended comment period.
When the CSA paper is finally published, it will “explore the option of discontinuing embedded commissions and the potential impacts of such a change on Canadian investors and market participants.”
The move to consider a ban on embedded fees follows research the CSA commissioned last year from York University professor Douglas Cumming, which showed that these structures distort sales and impact investment performance.
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