Regulatory Cooperation

For the CSA, regulatory cooperation occurs both at national and international levels.

CSA members work closely among themselves in the development of new policy initiatives and the continuous improvement of the regulatory framework for securities. They further coordinate its regulatory initiatives with the Joint Forum of Financial Services.

Various CSA members are also active in international organizations such NASAA, COSRA, and IOSCO which represent North American, pan-American, and international securities regulators respectively.

Pan-Canadian

Passport

Passport is a regulatory system that gives a market participant automatic access to the capital markets in other jurisdictions by obtaining a decision only from its principal regulator and meeting the requirements of one set of harmonized laws. It is a major step forward in improving Canada’s securities regulatory system by providing market participants with streamlined access to Canada’s capital markets and fulfills a major commitment in the 2004 Memorandum of Understanding (Acrobat25KB PDF) regarding securities regulation among governments of all Canadian provinces and territories, except Ontario. CSA jurisdictions have outlined how the system works among participating passport jurisdictions and how non-Ontario market participants can obtain access to the market in Ontario through an interface system in which the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) makes its own decision but generally relies on the review by the principal regulator. To achieve maximum efficiency for the benefit of the market, the passport regulators accept the OSC’s decisions under passport.

Joint Forum of Financial Markets Regulators

The Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators includes representatives of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) and the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA). The mandate of the Joint Forum is to coordinate and streamline the regulation of products and services in the Canadian financial markets. One of the latest Joint Forum initiatives is the development of the Point of Sale Framework.

International

CSA members participate and collaborate actively with the following international organizations:

North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)

The North American Securities Administrators Association is an international organization devoted to investor protection. It is a voluntary association whose membership consists of state, provincial, and territorial securities administrators in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico. In the United States, NASAA is the voice of the state securities agencies responsible for efficient capital formation and investor protection.

Council of Securities Regulators of the Americas (COSRA)

COSRA was established in 1992 as a forum for securities regulators in North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean. Like IOSCO, COSRA focuses on subjects such as investor protection, the maintenance of market integrity, regulatory cooperation and information-sharing. Because COSRA brings together in a regional forum regulators from developed and developing countries, COSRA is also particularly interested in promoting reforms to strengthen capital markets and enhance investor protection in the Americas.

International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)

The members of the International Organization of Securities Commissions have resolved to:

  • cooperate together to promote high standards of regulation in order to maintain just, efficient and sound markets
  • exchange information on their respective experiences in order to promote the development of domestic markets
  • unite their efforts to establish standards and an effective surveillance of international securities transactions
  • provide mutual assistance to promote the integrity of the markets by a rigorous application of the standards and by effective enforcement against offenses

International Joint Forum

The Joint Forum was established in 1996 under the aegis of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) to deal with issues common to the banking, securities and insurance sectors, including the regulation of financial conglomerates. The Joint Forum is comprised of an equal number of senior bank, insurance and securities supervisors representing each supervisory constituency.