The Canadian Securities Transition Office has begun work on the initial set of rules for a proposed national regulator.

In a notice published Monday, the CSTO says that it has started work on the rules that would accompany proposed national securities legislation, with the help of experts seconded from several participating regulators and private law firms. It will be seeking public comment on the initial regulations as its’ work progresses, it notes.

For the most part, the CSTO intends to adapt existing harmonized provincial rules (mainly national instruments) to form the new rules. It will also work toward resolving the non-harmonized rules (including non-harmonized elements in the national instruments); and it will be working to develop regulations for areas that are new to most provincial regulators, such as regulating derivatives trading, it says.

In addition to the new rules, the CSTO said that it has retained Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP to act as primary legal counsel on the transactional aspects of the transition from the current system of provincial regulation to a new national regulator. In addtion, consulting firm Mercer is advising it on the new authority’s compensation plan design.

The roster of regulatory secondments has also grown, it says, with the addition of Kevin Hoyt, director regulatory affairs and CFO at the New Brunswick Securities Commission, as finance strategy and processes advisor to the CSTO.

IE