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In a bid to streamline regulation, most of the provinces are handing off the dealer registration function to the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) effective Tuesday, with the rest expected to come on board in the coming weeks.

Regulators in Ontario, Alberta, the Atlantic provinces and the territories formally delegated the job of registering investment dealers, fund dealers and their reps to the industry self-regulatory organization. In Ontario, the delegation also covers futures commission merchants.

In Quebec, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) said that it also expects to publish its delegation order for investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and derivatives dealers later this month, with the expectation that the change will take effect July 1.

Additionally, the regulators for the remaining provinces — British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba — said that they will proceed with delegation orders, or required rule changes “in due course,” assuming that they get the required government approvals.

The move generally only applies to investment dealers and fund dealers. Other registration categories, including fund managers, portfolio managers, exempt market dealers and restricted dealers, will continue to register with (and by supervised) directly by provincial regulators.

Additionally, the CSA indicated that it will remain involved in reviewing any “novel” registration applications in the categories that CIRO has taken charge of — while also granting exemptions as needed, and developing regulatory policy.

The move to give CIRO responsibility for registration is intended to streamline regulation and reduce needless regulatory burdens.

In a separate release, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) noted that delegating dealer registration to the SRO was one of the recommendations of the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce in its final report that was published in January 2021. 

“Today marks a significant milestone for regulation in Ontario. By delegating these registration functions to CIRO, we have streamlined regulation for market participants in Ontario and across Canada by removing duplication and creating a modern regulatory framework for our capital markets,” said Grant Vingoe, CEO of the OSC, in a release. 

“CIRO, like all regulators, has a responsibility to deliver regulation efficiently, effectively and remove duplication. The CSA’s decision to streamline registration through delegation supports our strategic objective to deliver a more effective registration framework,” added Andrew Kriegler, president and CEO of CIRO, in a release. 

In the meantime, Kriegler said that CIRO will also work with the jurisdictions that have yet to formally hand over the task of registration, “to establish a consistent harmonized approach to the registration process.”