As expected, on September 13, 2018, the Canadian Securities
Administrators (the CSA) published draft rules intended to implement
the policy direction reached earlier this year on mutual fund fee
reform, also known as the "embedded compensation"
project. The draft rules are written as amendments to National
Instrument 81-105 Mutual Fund Sales Practices, together
with related amendments to National Instrument 81-101 Mutual
Fund Prospectus Disclosure and National Instrument 31-103
Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant
Obligations.
The draft rules are intended to have two primary effects once
adopted:
- Mutual fund managers will no longer
be able to pay dealers any form of sales commission at the time of
acquisition of mutual fund securities. This is intended to wipe out
the "deferred sales charge", "low load" and
"level load" methods of acquiring mutual funds. Instead
clients will agree with their dealer and individual advisor,
whether or