The Ontario Securities Commission has granted an exemption to Bank of Nova Scotia’s BNS Capital Trust from having to pay corporate finance participation fees for a closed-ended trust.

The trust is a special purpose vehicle established solely to provide a cost-effective means of raising capital for Canadian financial institution regulatory purposes. It does not carry on any independent business activities other than to acquire and hold assets to generate income for distribution to holders of the securities.

The trust already has an exemption from filing financial statements as long as the bank sends its financials to securities holders, because the trust’s financials appear on the bank’s financial statements, too.

It is now exempt from the fees, provided that the bank and the trust continue to satisfy all of the conditions contained in the Continuous Disclosure Exemption. As well, the bank must not issue further securities out of the trust, and it must include the capitalization of the trust in the participation fee calculation applicable to the bank.