The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is recruiting for its new advisory committee on exempt markets, which will inform the expanded review of exempt markets it announced last week.
The OSC said Monday that it is seeking applicants for its new ad hoc Exempt Market Advisory Committee (EMAC), which is being created to inform the regulator’s staff on possible approaches to regulating the capital raising component of the exempt market, particularly potential new capital raising prospectus exemptions.
On June 7, the OSC announced that, in the wake of the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) review of two of the primary prospectus exemptions (the minimum amount exemption and the accredited investor exemption), which was launched last year, it is broadening the scope of its exempt market review.
Specifically, the OSC is planning to consider whether new capital raising prospectus exemptions should be introduced in Ontario. It will be looking at some of the exemptions that are available in other provinces (such as offering memorandum exemptions and friends & family exemptions), and in other countries (for example, the crowd-funding exemption which is being introduced in the United States). The CSA has not yet said whether it intends to alter the exemptions studied in the initial review.
As part of its expanded review, OSC staff are planning to publish a second consultation note on the issue, and seek further feedback from investors, issuers, registrants and professional advisors. A new advisory committee is also being formed to help with these deliberations.
The OSC said Monday that the new committee, which is being established for a one year term, will meet approximately four to six times over the course of the year. It will consist of 10 to 15 members with a variety of different perspectives, and will be chaired by Jo-Anne Matear, manager of the OSC’s corporate finance branch.
Applications are due by June 27.