(February 21 – 17:30 ET) – The Ontario Securities Commission has published a slate of amendments to its rules governing mutual fund disclosure documents.

The OSC’s rules dealing with fund prospectuses and annual information forms are receiving a series of amendments, changes, which were delivered to the Minister of Finance on February 16. If the minister does not explicitly approve, reject, or return them to the commission for further consideration by May 2, they will come into force on May 2. (This effective date also applies if the minister approves the rule).

The Canadian Securities Administrators published drafts of the amendments for comment on January 28 and June 16, 2000. The January amendments dealt primarily with the CSA’s proposal to permit mutual funds to enter into securities lending, repurchase and reverse repurchase transactions. The June amendments proposed changes to permit index mutual funds to better meet their investment objectives, but also proposed changes to the calculation of the management expense ratio of mutual funds, as well as other housekeeping changes.

The CSA received 23 comments on the January amendments and five on the June amendments. Changes have been made to both in response to comments received. Because the CSA do not believe the changes are material, it is finalizing the changes.
-IE Staff