No consensus on CSA’s best interest proposal

Investor advocates and investment industry representatives alike will have the opportunity to debate a set of proposed reforms to regulations affecting the client/financial advisor relationship in a Dec. 6 roundtable discussion hosted by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which published the agenda for the event on Wednesday.

The OSC’s roundtable will examine the proposed reforms that the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) put forth in a consultation paper this past April that include: a proposed new best interest standard; a series of targeted reforms to various existing rules, including the know-your-client and know-your-product requirements; and rules regarding the business titles that advisors can use.

The first two panel discussions at the roundtable, which focuses on the proposed best interest standard, will feature: Investment Industry Association of Canada President and CEO Ian Russell; Randy Cass, CEO of robo-advisor Nest Wealth Asset Management Inc.; Peter Moulson, wealth-management compliance with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Margaret McNee, senior partner with McMillan LLP; former industry executive Lawrence Haber; and Ursula Menke, the head of the OSC’s independent Investor Advisory Panel (IAP). Monica Kowal, the OSC’s vice chairwoman, will moderate the discussion.

Grant Vingoe, OSC vice chairman, will moderate the second session, which will deal with the proposed targeted reforms. Panellists include Paul Bourque, president and CEO of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada; Ellen Roseman, vice chairwoman of the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights; Eric Adelson, head of legal for Invesco Canada Ltd.; Rosemary Chan, global wealth-management compliance with Bank of Nova Scotia; Prema Thiele, partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP; and former industry executive, Gerry Rocchi.

Maureen Jensen, OSC chairwoman, and Debra Foubert, director of the compliance and registrant regulation branch at the OSC, will also address the roundtable discussion with introductory and closing remarks, respectively.

The audience for the roundtable is already full and the OSC says that it can now only accommodate additional participants by live audio webcast.

The OSC’s roundtable is set for the afternoon of Dec. 6 at the OSC’s offices in Toronto.

Various other members of the CSA will also be holding their roundtables in late November and early December.

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