Financial industry executive and philanthropist Hal Jackman has endowed the first ever research chair to focus on investor protection and shareholder rights, the University of Toronto (U of T) announced on Wednesday.
Professor Anita Anand, a corporate law and governance expert, is the new J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
In her new post, Anand — who was also the first head of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Investor Advisory Panel (IAP), and is currently serving on the Ontario government’s committee considering stepped up regulation for financial planning — plans to research investor restitution, among other investor protection issues.
“My research focuses on investor protection including investors’ rights and remedies. Among other things, I plan to investigate whether new remedies for investors, including a remedy whereby investors gain back lost funds, are warranted given the potential contribution of these remedies to bolstering confidence and efficiency in our markets,” Anand says in a statement.
The research chair is named after J.R. Kimber, author of the Report of the Attorney General’s Committee on Securities Legislation in Ontario (March 1965), which helped shape securities regulation in Canada.
“We cannot and should not underestimate the importance of investor protection in today’s capital markets,” adds Anand. “More than 50% of Canadians are invested in our markets outside a registered retirement savings or similar plan. Ensuring that investors are adequately protected is fundamental to the well-being of our society.”