The Martineau Report for Quebec’s finance ministry, released yesterday, recommends the creation of a financial services super regulator for the province.

Specifically, it recommends the establishment through legislation of the Agence d’encadrement du secteur financier du Québec, a single body to regulate the Québec financial sector.

Its regulatory responsibilities would follow a functional approach and be divided into: consumer assistance; solvency; distribution; securities markets; and compensation.

Five separate administrative divisions would assume these responsibilities, and coordinate their services. It would also establish an internal body to make quasi-judicial decisions on regulated matters. The report specifies that financial planners be covered by the new body, too.

It recommends that financial sector stakeholders fund the Agence and that the government approve its budgets. It imagines a president and CEO to head the Agence for a five-year term, subject to one renewal. And that the CEO appoint superintendents responsible for assisting and ensuring the management of the regulatory divisions.

The report also proposes the establishment of a Conseil de la régie administrative in the Agence of seven members, ad hoc or permanent advisory committees to maintain close relations with consumers and regulated entities. The proposed Agence would be publicly accountable.

The paper recommends that the legislation governing the Québec financial sector and establishing the Agence stipulate the objectives to be achieved and that it bestows the necessary powers to achieve these goals. Self-regulatory organizations would also still be part of the picture.

The Commission des valeurs mobilières du Québec has acknowledged the recommendations made by the Martineau report. The CVMQ has offered Quebec’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for the Economy and Finance, Pauline Marois Marois its full cooperation.