Exchange Traded Funds In Canada: OSC Requires Summary Disclosure Documents And IOSCO Releases Final Report On Principles Of Regulation

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) recently granted technical relief to providers of exchange traded funds (ETFs) in Canada, and to their dealers, that is conditional on the filing of prescribed summary disclosure documents and delivery of these documents to investors in ETFs. The series of OSC decisions reinforce the OSC's commitment to ensure that investors in all publicly offered investment funds have access to effective and meaningful disclosure through a largely harmonized summary disclosure document – Fund Facts documents for mutual funds and summary documents for ETFs. The key condition to the OSC's relief is that each ETF must file, prior to September 1, 2013, and thereafter concurrently with its final prospectus or an amendment to its prospectus, and post on its website, a prescribed summary disclosure document for each class or series of securities of the ETF. The summary document must be provided to certain dealers upon reasonable request.