Canadian securities regulators are formalizing their oversight arrangements for the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) through a new memorandum of understanding (MOU).
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) reported Thursday in the OSC Bulletin that it has entered into an MOU with the MFDA’s various recognizing regulators in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI.
http://www.oscbulletin.carswell.com/bb/osc/bb/3632/on3632.htm
“The purpose of the MOU is to promote a more effective and efficient system of oversight of the MFDA and to formalize current co-operation among the [regulators],” it notes.
The MOU sets out a framework for the regulators to coordinate their oversight reviews of the MFDA, and other activities involving the self-regulatory organization, including the creation of an oversight committee to discuss oversight issues.
The MOU also establishes that communications with the MFDA will typically be funneled through the MFDA’s principal regulator. And, it sets out a Joint Rule Protocol for dealing with the review and approval of rule changes proposed by the MFDA, including a mechanism for resolving disagreements about proposed changes.
Under the protocol, to deal with disagreements that can’t be resolved among staff of the various regulators, the regulators are then to arrange for their senior staff to discuss the dispute within 10 days; and, if they can’t resolve it, the issue will then be elevated to either the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Policy Coordination Committee for policy matters, or the Executive Directors’ Committee for operational issues.
The MOU is subject to the approval of the Minister of Finance, the OSC says; and it was delivered to the minister for approval on August 2.