The New Brunswick Securities Commission announced that a number of amendments to the Securities Act were passed by the province’s legislature.

The bill came into effect on May 30, although some sections of it will be proclaimed at a later date. The changes it brings fall into three categories: helping streamline securities regulation across the country; improving investor protection; and, enhancing the Commission’s ability to administer the legislation.

Most of the legislative changes deal with harmonizing New Brunswick’s securities regulatory framework with regulators across the country, as part of the ‘passport’ system. It gives market participants a single point of entry into Canadian capital markets, allowing them to deal with a regulator in one jurisdiction instead of all of them, making the system more efficient.

The NBSC says that New Brunswick’s investors will also benefit from the commission’s enhanced enforcement powers. “These changes respond to issues that have been a major concern to investors,” it says. “The changes improve the ability for investors to get their money back in situations where their financial loss is a result of misrepresentation or fraudulent activity.” The amendments also remove obstacles to an investor’s ability to sue an issuer if the investor relied on false information. And, the commission now has the ability to order that money obtained as a result of violating the Securities Act be disgorged to the commission and, in some cases, an investor can be directly compensated for financial losses when it is clear that there was a violation of securities laws.

“We’re very pleased that the bill received Royal Assent,” says Donne Smith, chair and CEO of the NBSC. “The amendments help eliminate regulatory barriers for those in the capital market, while improving protection for New Brunswick investors. They help keep our securities laws current and up to date with those in other Canadian jurisdictions. They achieve our objective for harmonizing regulatory requirements for securities across the country.”

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