The Canadian Securities Administrators launched Friday the National Registration System aimed at harmonizing and streamlining the registration regime of individuals and firms across all jurisdictions.

The NRS will allow an individual or firm to apply for registration in multiple jurisdictions and deal with only one regulator — the principal regulator. Investors will have the protection of their home regulator.

The system will use the principle of mutual reliance to reduce unnecessary duplication in the review of registration applications of investment dealers, mutual fund dealers, unrestricted advisers (investment counsel/portfolio managers) and their sponsored individuals. Under the NRS, an applicant will be required to meet the “fit and proper” standards of only the principal regulator. Non-principal jurisdictions will generally rely on the principal regulator’s decision to grant registration and will normally grant registration within five days after the principal regulator.

“The National Registration System will simplify the registration process for firms and individuals,” David Gilkes, manager registrant regulation at the Ontario Securities Commission and a member of the CSA’s Registration Reform Project, said in a statement. “The benefits of the NRS include enhanced efficiencies for the industry and an overall quicker turnaround to become registered in multiple jurisdictions.”

The CSA says that the launch of the NRS lays the groundwork for its Registration Reform Project, which aims to develop registration categories and common proficiency and conduct requirements. The Registration Reform Project is working toward drafting a proposed rule to be ready for public consultation and comment by December 2006.

Another goal of the Registration Reform Project is the implementation of the core principles of the OSC’s proposed Fair Dealing Model, which focused on the regulation of the relationships between advisers and individual investors. Those core principles include: clarity of the investor-adviser relationship; transparency of compensation to advisers and their conflict management systems; transparency of performance against promise; and a simplified, harmonized and streamlined approach to registration.

That project remains in the hands of a steering committee that includes industry representatives, along with representatives of the IDA, Mutual Fund Dealers Association, and securities regulators in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. “The consultation sessions allowed the industry to discuss many important registration issues and to contribute to the development of a streamlined process that will better serve our stakeholders,” said Ross Sherwood, chief executive officer of Odlum Brown and vice-chair of the IDA, who sits on the steering committee.