Echoing similar statistics that were released last week by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the country’s largest regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), released its own enforcement stats Thursday — highlighting the regulators’ increased emphasis on fighting fraud.

As with the overall CSA totals, the OSC reported today that the number of proceedings initiated by its staff rose last year. OSC staff commenced a total of 30 proceedings in 2012, up from 25 in 2011; and, this involved allegations against 107 respondents (both individuals and corporate), compared to 96 respondents in 2011. Over half of these new cases included allegations of fraud, it notes.

“We made it a priority to go after fraudulent schemes aimed at investors and we did just that in 2012,” said Tom Atkinson, director of enforcement at the OSC. “The OSC has established solid momentum in protecting investors by targeting fraud and sanctioning perpetrators.”

Cases involving fraud allegations also featured prominently in the cases that the OSC concluded during the year, although the number of concluded cases slipped a bit. The OSC reports that it concluded proceedings against a total of 63 individuals and 37 companies in 2012, compared to 107 individual and 53 corporate respondents in 2011. The commission reports that cases almost half of these cases involved allegations of fraud.

The commission says that it focused on protecting investors by addressing the most serious harm, including fraud and the failure to provide investors with full and complete information, both of which have a significant impact on investors.

It continues to bring cases to the provincial courts, too. It reports that at year end it had seven cases before the Ontario Court of Justice, and six of those involve allegations of fraud. And, in 2012, two defendants received jail sentences totalling 21 months for breaches of the Ontario Securities Act and commission orders.

In terms of sanctions, the OSC ordered more than $78 million in monetary sanctions and costs during the year, including $61.5 million in disgorgement, $13.7 million in penalties, and almost $3 million in costs. It also imposed 80 cease trade orders in 2012, 49 director and officer bans, denied exemptions to 72 respondents, and restricted registration in 58 cases. The OSC acknowledges that it has “experienced challenges” in collecting monetary sanctions and cost orders, but insists that it “continues to work to improve its collections practices.”

The commission also notes that an increasing share of OSC enforcement actions involve activity outside Ontario, which makes its investigations more complex. That has resulted in increased information sharing and collaboration among regulators, it notes.

The largest number of requests for assistance from the OSC come from U.S. regulators, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), it says; but, an increasing number are now being made between the OSC and regulators in Asia and Europe, it adds. The commission reports that the number of non-U.S. requests for assistance received by the OSC increased from 10 in 2011 to 19 in 2012; and, the OSC made 35 requests to international regulators in 2012, up from 33 in 2011.

“Robust and effective enforcement is essential to investor protection and to foster confidence in our capital markets,” said Howard Wetston, chair and CEO of the OSC. “The OSC continues to intensify its enforcement program and explore other ways to protect investors and support their trust and confidence in the fairness and integrity of Ontario’s capital markets.”