Earlier this week, the British Columbia Securities Commission
(BCSC) released its 2014 Enforcement Report,
which represents the first annual enforcement report to be
published by the BCSC.
The 31-page report provides an overview of the BCSC's
enforcement activities in 2014 which consisted, in part, of 22
administrative and three criminal proceedings. In 2014, the BCSC
handled 173 new cases. The most common violations included those
related to unregistered activity, illegal sales of securities and
fraud.
The report also discusses the results of two targeted BCSC
initiatives. The first initiative addresses risks posed by the use
of B.C. dealers and accounts in "offshore secrecy
jurisdictions" to trade on inside information, manipulate the
market, or engage in other forms of market misconduct. The
enforcement efforts under this program are focused on foreign
financial institutions trading for B.C. residents without
registration and brokers engaging in offshore
