By James Langton

(March 23 – 17:00 ET) – The Mutual Fund Dealers Association took another baby step
toward recognition as a self-regulatory organization today, sending its draft rule revisions to the Canadian Securities Administrators for consideration.

The MFDA applied to the CSA for recognition before Christmas, including a set of draft rules. In February the CSA returned its comments to the MFDA and it has now sent its revisions to the CSA.

Once the CSA incorporates them it should be able to finally release the draft rules for comment. The CSA is anticipating early to mid-April as a possible publication date.

Several dealers have asked the CSA to publish the proposed rules under a 120-day comment period, rather than the 60-day period which has been mentioned. Based on these timelines it will likely be fall before the MFDA is recognized as an SRO. It initially set July 1 as its target recognition date.