OSC Approves UMIR Amendments Regarding Order Protection Rules

The Ontario Securities Commission announced last week that it has approved amendments to IIROC's Universal Market Integrity Rules, proposed in November 2009, that are consequential to the CSA's implementation of changes to National Instrument 23-101 Trading Rules regarding trade-through protection.

Among other things, the amendments, effective February 1, 2011, will repeal the rule and policies respecting the "best price" obligation of participants, provide that the order protection rule cannot be avoided when a participant is considering a trade on a foreign organized regulated market and require participants and access persons to have adequate policies and procedures for handling orders that do not rely on a marketplace to ensure compliance with the order protection rule. For more information, see IIROC Notice 11-0036.