The Ontario Securities Commission is going to focus its efforts on retail complaints and restitution. This choice in direction is based on comments the OSC has received in response to draft Statement of Priorities, released in March.

The OSC received 14 responses. Based on the feedback, the OSC reports that it changed one of the initiatives under its goal of better understanding and addressing the needs of the retail investor. “The initiative now also places focus on building upon the existing mechanisms for resolution of client complaints and restitution such as that offered by the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments,” says the OSC.

The OSC says it has decided not to include the report card on its progress against the 2005/2006 OSC Statement of Priorities initiatives in the 2006/2007 Statement. The report card will be published on the OSC website www.osc.gov.on.ca.

The Securities Act requires the commission to deliver a statement setting out its priorities for its current financial year to the Minister by June 30 of each year.

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario has also published its latest statement of priorities.