The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced it has published the commission’s final 2023-2024 Statement of Priorities as part of its business plan for the fiscal years ending 2024-2026.
The Statement of Priorities (SoP) include:
- Building trust and fairness in Ontario’s capital markets.
- Strengthening investor safeguards.
- Adapting regulation to align with innovation and evolving markets.
- Enabling the organization to deliver effective regulation.
“As business needs evolve, the OSC may take on additional priorities and reprioritize initiatives during the year in response to emerging issues and changing market conditions,” they write. More than 20 comment letters were submitted in response to the priorities in late 2022.
“As Ontario’s capital markets evolve, the OSC – and the framework under which it operates – must anticipate and respond to change,” the document states. “The traditional boundaries of finance are being pushed outward by innovation and, along with them, the expectations on market regulators are heightened to develop suitable oversight frameworks. The evolution of crypto assets, decentralized marketplaces and the digitization of financial instruments reflects how quickly capital market activity is changing.”
They add that as market participants embrace innovative practices, the potential benefits need to be balanced with an understanding that there are potential risks that should be mitigated.
They continue saying the vast majority of the commission’s resources will continue to be committed to core regulatory operations, including authorizations, compliance, oversight and supervision and enforcement.
