Canada’s planned co-operative capital markets regulator has a new launch date — 2018 — and its inaugural board of directors.
The ministers responsible for capital markets regulation in British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Yukon, and the federal finance minister on Friday announced they are now aiming to get the required federal and provincial legislation passed by June 30, 2018, for implementing the Capital Markets Regulatory Authority (CMRA).
In their announcement, the ministers say they are committed to moving forward with the initiative, and they continue to call on the remaining provinces and territories to join in.
They also unveiled the CMRA’s initial board of directors. The 15-member board, which is one third female and also selected with geographic diversity in mind, would first serve as the board of directors for the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organization, which will guide the transition to the CMRA.
The board is chaired by Bill Black, former president and CEO of Maritime Life. It also includes several familiar industry names such as Howard Wetston, former chairman and CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission; Doug Knight, co-founder of Vancouver’s Deans Knight Capital Management; Eric Tripp, former president of BMO Capital Markets; and John McCoach, former president of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Several prominent securities lawyers are also on the board, including Harold MacKay of Regina-based MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP, who was vice chairman of the Wise Persons’ Committee on Securities Regulation, and chairman of the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector back in 1997; Garth Girvan, counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP; and Rory Godinho, partner at Miller Thomson LLP.
Other board members are: Andrea Bolger, former executive vice president of business financial services in the Canadian banking division at Royal Bank of Canada; Jean-Pierre Ouellet, former senior partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP in Montreal, and former vice chairman of RBC Capital Markets for Quebec; Jill Leversage, who has more than 30 years’ experience as a financial services executive; Vicky Sharpe, founding president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada; Joan Dunne, co-founder and former chief financial officer of Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd.; Nancy Hopkins, partner with McDougall Gauley LLP in Saskatchewan; and Peter Klohn, chairman of the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick (FCNB).
The Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) is applauding the announcement of the CMRA’s initial board, and says that it expects the initiative to eventually result in a national regulator.
“We are convinced that, under the effective leadership of chair William Black, the new board of the CMRA will create the vision and strategic plan to build competitive, efficient and fair national markets for Canadian investors, and large and small businesses across the country,” says Ian Russell, president and CEO of the IIAC, in a statement.
“The IIAC is confident that, over time, as the regulatory authority demonstrates its vision, effectiveness, national focus and accountability, those provinces and territories not yet participating in this cooperative project will join to create a truly national regulatory framework for securities regulation in the country,” he adds.
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