Industry applauds Sousa’s regulatory proposals

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published the 2016 edition of its risk assessment questionnaire (RAQ) on Wednesday.

The regulator uses the survey to rank firms in terms of the riskiness of their businesses. This ranking guides the process of which firms will be selected for compliance examinations.

The survey, which goes to the firms that are directly regulated by the provincial regulator (including exempt market dealers, portfolio managers, and investment fund managers), “gathers comprehensive information about registrants’ business operations,” the OSC says in its announcement.

Firms are required to complete the RAQ by June 29.

The OSC is hosting outreach sessions on May 30 (online) and May 31 (in-person) to guide firms through the process of comlpeting the questionnaire. The seminars will cover frequently asked questions, and walk participants through areas of the RAQ that have given firms difficulty in the past. The previous RAQ was issued in 2014.

The seminars aim to make the process “more effective and efficient” for firms, the OSC says.

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