The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has granted regulatory relief from the Fund Facts delivery requirements to Mackenzie Financial Corp. and Quadrus Investment Services Ltd. under a program that switches investors from a regular retail fund series to high net-worth series that’s identical, apart from the fact that it carries lower fees, once the investors reach certain eligibility thresholds.
Under the rules, the switches between series of a fund would trigger the requirement to deliver a new Fund Facts document. However, the regulator has granted relief to allow those switches to take place without delivering another Fund Facts document.
However, in cases in which an investor would be switched from the lower-fee series to the higher-fee series because they no longer meet the eligibility requirements, the Fund Facts document would still be delivered.
The OSC approved the relief on the condition that the dealer devises a plan for notifying investors who are already in the retail series of the details of the switching program, including that they will not receive a new Fund Facts document, but that they may request one; and that the terms of the program are set out in the funds’ prospectus and Fund Facts documents.
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