OSC Proposes New Initiatives To Facilitate Cooperation And Settlements

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced new enforcement tools aimed at providing incentives to market participants to self-report and encourage cooperation with securities regulators to lead to quicker enforcement outcomes.

Although these initiatives are still at the comment stage, they are likely to be implemented in some form as Howard Wetston, the Chair of the OSC has highlighted these initiatives in public statements. The tools include clearer, more explicit procedures for self-reporting by market participants, No-Enforcement Action Agreements and a No-Contest Settlement program.

New Methods of Self-Reporting

The changes to the self-reporting regime recognize that the almost 10-year-old "credit for cooperation" protocol, for parties that report and remedy on their own initiative (OSC Staff Notice 15-702), has not worked. It is regarded as mysterious and as a potentially high risk way to interact with regulators, because it involves admissions