Canadian securities regulators are proposing to ramp up the disclosure that dealers and reps have to make about the charges clients are paying, and the performance of their portfolios.
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) Thursday published for comment a set of proposals that form the second part of the so-called Client Relationship Model (CRM), which focus on ensuring that dealers and reps provide investors with “clear and meaningful information” on the costs and performance of their investments.
Among other things, the rule requires dealers to provide clients with annual reports that show in dollar terms, what the dealer or rep was paid for the products and services provided during the year. It also aims to unpick some of the hidden costs and embedded charges that investors pay by requiring disclosure of: trailer commissions in dollar terms; and, the costs of fixed-income investments, including both the commissions earned by reps, and the spread taken by bond desks.
The rule would also set performance reporting requirements for firms, mandating that firms show how a client’s investments performed during the past year, and over longer periods, in both dollar and percentage terms. It specifically requires firms to use a dollar-weighted method in calculating the percentage return on client accounts; and it establishes a process for valuing certain illiquid securities.
Additionally, the rule sets tougher disclosure requirements for scholarship plans, requiring them to spell out upfront the added risks inherent in these products (such as consequences of failing to keep up payments, or failing to choose a qualified course of study); along with annual cost and performance reporting.
“This is an important investor protection initiative that aims to help investors better understand the costs and performance of their investments,” said Bill Rice, chair of the CSA and chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “With the proposed changes, investors will be able to better assess their progress towards meeting their financial goals and the value of the professional advice they receive.”
It’s expected that the industry self-regulatory organizations (the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA)) will harmonize their rules in this area with the requirements being imposed by the CSA. Pending the securities commissions’ rules in this area, the SROs have suspended the cost and performance reporting components of their own CRM initiatives.
This is the second publication of these proposed rules. And, the CSA says that since it first published its proposals in this area in June of last year, it has carried out additional investor research, including document testing and surveying approximately 2,000 investors; along with further industry consultation. The latest version of the proposal is out for comment until Sept. 14, and regulators hope to finalize it early next year.
Once finalized, the current proposal would allow a three-year transition period for the implementation of certain elements of the rule, to give firms enough time to make the required systems changes; although other elements would have to be adopted sooner.