By Cristie Ford https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2017/06/has-financial-regulation-over-last-thirty-years-been-one-huge (Spoiler: if the scholarship is any guide, the answer is, pretty much, no). In 2009, Lord Adair Turner charged that: ‘An underlying assumption of financial regulation in the US, the UK and across the world, has been that financial innovation is by definition beneficial, since market discipline will winnow out any… Read More Has (Financial) Regulation Over the Last Thirty Years Been One Huge Neoliberal Mistake?

By Tegan Valentine On Monday June 5, 2017 the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on Kokesh v. SEC. In Kokesh the Court was asked to consider whether disgorgement should be held to the standards set out in the United State’s federal statute of limitations law. Ultimately, the Court determined that a five-year statute of… Read More Kokesh v SEC – Disgorgement and the Statute of Limitations

By Anita Anand https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/new-securities-regulatory-structure-a-disservice-to-investors/article35167692/ The current proposal for reform of Canada’s securities regulatory structure, referred to as the “Cooperative Capital Markets Regulator,” is not in investors’ interests. This may seem strange because securities regulation is founded on the need to protect investors in the capital markets. Yet in both its governance structure and substance, the… Read More Canada’s new securities regulatory structure is a disservice to investors

Originally shared by the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights FAIR Canada Issues White Paper Entitled “What About the Investors?” Toronto (May 18, 2017) – FAIR Canada and CARP today announced that they believe the proposed cooperative capital markets regulator (CCMR) is not in the interests of ordinary Canadians. FAIR Canada and CARP are… Read More FAIR Canada and CARP Call for Major Changes to Proposed New Regulator

By Lawrence E. Ritchie, Robert M. Yalden, W. David Rankin – Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Originally published May 12, 2017 at osler.com In response to a reference from the Government of Québec, the Québec Court of Appeal has concluded that while the governance framework for the co-operative capital markets regulatory regime, as proposed, is unconstitutional,… Read More Québec court finds aspects of securities model unconstitutional

  The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) announced yesterday that a majority of provinces and territories have abandoned the project of working on a best interest standard governing investment advisers and other financial intermediaries. This is bad news for investors especially given the “expectations gap” that consumers experience: they incorrectly assume that advisers are obliged to… Read More Bad News for Investors from the CSA

At today’s shareholder meeting, the CEO of Bombardier, Alain Bellmare, stated that Bombardier is now “tighter on governance.” Perhaps he was referring to the move of Pierre Beaudoin to step down as executive chair  after major Canadian pension funds refused to support Beaudoin  in this position. But this governance change, while positive, is minor. There… Read More Continued Governance Problems at Bombardier