The Canadian Capital Markets Association today released lists of proposed legal and regulatory amendments needed to benefit Canadian investors and keep Canada’s securities markets among the foremost in the world.

The amendments build on the efforts of the CCMA committees that are working to achieve T+1 in Canada in 2005.

“The amendments we propose are fundamental to overcoming major issues raised in three CCMA white papers covering institutional trade processing, retail trade processing and implementing electronic alternatives to paper securities certificates,” said CCMA chair Allan Cooper.

“Their impact is national — they require changes to federal and provincial legislation and regulation, as well as to rules and standards of self-regulatory organizations throughout Canada’s capital markets. In these lists, we provide the best input to date, but the issues at hand are complex and we know that there are gaps in our research. We call on our industry colleagues and professionals working with the securities industry to review these lists and help us develop a comprehensive map of the legal, regulatory and best-practice changes needed to implement T+1,” added Cooper.

The CCMA has assembled a list of functional changes required to implement T+1, the General Issues List – Legal. The list prioritizes the changes into those that are critical for T+1, those that are very important to T+1, and those that will optimize the benefits of T+1.

According to the CCMA the following changes are critical to T+1:

  • Shorten settlement cycle to T+1
  • Require matching of the two sides to a securities trade
  • Require holdings to be in electronic form prior to trading
  • Eliminate or reduce reliance on paper



To enable the industry to bring these business imperatives to life, the CCMA’s Legal/Regulatory Working Group (LRWG) also compiled a detailed list of specific changes needed to legislation, regulations, by-laws, rules, standards and conventions nation- and securities-industry-wide, the Detailed Required Amendments List.

“This second list will guide us at a practical level in making required changes, helping the LRWG and other CCMA committees liaise with lawmakers and regulators to ensure that the legal and regulatory environment is ready for T+1,” said Tom Marley, Chair of the LRWG.

“While 2005 seems far away, it is important that proposed changes be published in draft for comment and enacted as soon as possible so that all industry participants and investors can understand the implications of T+1,” added Marley.

The CCMA is seeking comment on the lists by stakeholders in Canadian securities markets. Comments are due by Jan. 15, 2002.