(May 19) John Carson, senior vice president market regulation of the Toronto Stock Exchange, is calling on listed companies to open up to their retail investors – to level the playing field between retail and institutional investors.
In a speech Carson called on companies to strive to improve communication with retail investors, whom he described as “disadvantaged”. He pointed to Internet distribution channels and the liberalization of conference call audiences as a couple of routes to fairer distribution of corporate information.
The information disparity between retail and institutional investors has long been preserved by companies giving preferential access to analysts and large institutional investors – however new technologies are making that knowledge gap harder to maintain, and impossible to justify.
Some retail investors are playing on the same field as some instiutional investors, through online.
Some companies, such as Toronto-Dominion Bank, have begun opening access to their conference calls in an effort to be fairer with their retail investors.
While Halifax-based Salter New Media has begun broadcasting quarterly conference calls over the Internet for some companies, such as Montreal’s Bombardier Inc.
Carson says that he is working with the Ontario Securities Commission in an effort to combat selective disclosure.