A new report from Vancouver’s Fraser Institute says that the Ontario Securities Commission may be falling behind its international counterparts in its own governance.

The new study, The Governance of the Ontario Securities Commission: Lessons from International Comparisons, compares the governance structure of the OSC with regulators in the United States, Australia, the U.K., and Hong Kong, to explore governance practices that can be adopted by the OSC.

“With the OSC playing a larger role in the functioning of capital markets, improvements to its governance can help ensure regulation and regulatory resources work towards enhancing the capital formation process rather than disrupting it,” said Neil Mohindra, senior economist at the Institute and author of the paper, in a news release.

Although the study finds that significant differences exist across the regulators examined in the study, it also notes there are a number of ways the OSC’s governance could be improved.

For example, the study suggests the OSC could provide more information on its existing governance practices in its annual report, such as what sub-committees of the commission exist and what their functions are.

The Minister of Finance could take a more active role in the OSC’s oversight under the existing legislative framework. The study notes that the five-year legislative review provides an opportunity to consider more fundamental reforms to the OSC’s governance structure.

The study also recommends refashioning the OSC along the lines of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority. “Consideration should be given to restructuring the OSC more along the lines of the U.K.’s FSA so that the non-executive members of its board are no longer responsible for exercising the OSC’s administrative powers.”

“The quality of governance is an issue that all securities regulators are paying more attention to. By striving towards best practices in its own governance, the OSC can set an example for the public companies it regulates,” concludes Mohindra.