The Ontario Securities Commission has received good, but slightly lower grades, according to a report Thursday on stakeholder satisfaction.

Stakeholders also strongly support the idea of a single national securities regulator, with uniform securities legislation across Canada.

The report is based on a survey by Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs Canada of more than 1,300 individuals registered with the OSC, companies that issue securities in Ontario, people who have contacted the OSC’s contact centre, and investors from the general population.

This year, stakeholder’s gave the OSC an overall satisfaction grade of “B to B+”, a notch down from the A- given in the previous survey in 2001 and similar to results of the initial wave conducted in 2000.

Stakeholders identified the OSC’s core competencies of regulation and enforcement as its strengths, while reducing “red tape” and the regulation of new financial products were named as areas requiring improvements.

The survey included questions on key issues facing the securities industry. In particular:

  • Single regulator: more than 75% of market participants strongly support replacing the existing 13 securities regulators with a single national securities regulator, with uniform securities legislation across Canada. Maintaining the status quo in this area received support from less than 4% of market participants. Similarly, 69% of inquiry line users and 49% of general population respondents prefer a single national regulatory body, with just 5% and 11% respectively supporting the status quo;
  • Enforcement: more than 60% of market participants and people who have contacted the OSC’s contact centre believe the OSC is a strong enforcer of the Ontario Securities Act, while general population awareness levels were lower. The top enforcement priority cited is proactively preventing violations, followed by punishing violators with fines or imprisonment. The top investigation priority cited was fraud, followed by falsified financial statements;
  • Notice: almost 80% of people who contacted the OSC’s inquiry centre and members of the general population agree strongly that all firms and individuals under investigation by the OSC should be required to inform the public and their clients about the investigation as soon as they become aware of it;
  • Confidence: questions probing awareness of the OSC’s investor confidence initiatives found very strong awareness among reporting issuers (96%) and registrants (86%) and among those aware respondents, found that further steps are required (57% of registrants, 32% of issuers).

    “As markets emerge from a protracted period of controversy and change, our research demonstrates that the OSC continues to be seen as a strong, necessary organization by its key stakeholders,” said Darrell Bricker, president and COO, Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs North America.

    The survey “demonstrates that the OSC continues to be seen as a strong, necessary organization by its key stakeholders,” Bricker said. “Again this year the OSC receives positive ratings from all its key stakeholders and low negative scores that would be the envy of other regulatory bodies.”

    OSC executive director Charlie Macfarlane said in a release that senior management team will be “dissecting” the survey results “to find areas where we can improve our performance and continue to target areas of importance to the people we serve.”

    The report is available on the OSC’s web site (www.osc.gov.on.ca).