In the wake of its efforts to enable the investment industry to expand its services for do-it-yourself (DIY) investors, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) is now looking at enhancing online access to traditional investment advice.
On Wednesday, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) said it’s launching a review of its existing approach to regulating online advice — which is currently built on firms receiving exemptive relief, rather than a specific regulatory framework for the provision of online advice.
As a result, the SRO is concerned that firms operating in this space face elevated regulatory uncertainty and inconsistent interpretations of their requirements, which results in high operating costs and limited product offerings — and that this may be hampering the development of online advice offerings.
The objective of the review “is to identify key regulatory barriers in CIRO’s current policy framework, which was built for in-person advisory services and may inhibit innovation in tailored online advice,” the SRO said in a notice.
The current limitations on online advice may be hamstringing the industry’s ability to serve certain investor segments — such as younger investors with relatively few financial assets that are digital natives with a high level of comfort at engaging online — that may benefit from improved access to more affordable, individual advice, the SRO suggested.
“This review will help identify whether any aspects of our current framework may be creating barriers, particularly for Canadians seeking affordable tailored online advice,” said Alexandra Williams, senior vice-president, strategy, innovation and stakeholder protection at CIRO, in a release.
To address this concern, the regulator said it’ll be reviewing the application of its existing rules and guidance to the provision of advice online; looking to identify instances where regulatory requirements can be fulfilled online; and examining potential unintended consequences from the existing rules.
To that end, the SRO is also seeking feedback from dealers, industry trade groups and investor advocates on the issues raised by its review.
In particular, it’s looking for input on enabling online advisory platforms to expand their offerings to areas such as private equity, direct indexing and model portfolios — and how the requirements of the Client Focused Reforms would apply in this context, CIRO said in a notice.
The review may also consider issues such as cybersecurity, the use of artificial intelligence (in both compliance and firms’ offerings to investors) and the role of finfluencers, it noted.
To participate in these consultations, CIRO is inviting interested parties to contact its regulatory policy team in writing by Jan 31, 2026.
Any specific reforms that result from the review would go through CIRO’s usual policy development process and will involve collaboration with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), it noted.
The online advice review follows CIRO’s recent efforts to relax some of the limitations on discount brokers that serve DIY investors. In August, the SRO launched a consultation on proposed guidance that aims to expand the kinds of tools and educational resources that these firms can provide to investors without breaching the prohibition on discount brokers providing advice.
CIRO said the review of its approach to online advice “will be an important next step to determine whether adjustments are needed to support affordable, scalable tailored advice delivered through online and hybrid advisory and managed models.”