THE CSA PUBLISHES NEW RULES ON
INVESTMENT FUND CONTINUOUS DISCLOSURE
September 27, 2002
Toronto, Canada -- The Canadian Securities Administrators (the "CSA"), the umbrella organization representing Canada's provincial and territorial securities regulators, has published for comment a draft Rule on investment fund continuous disclosure.
The proposed regime is aimed at providing investors and their advisers with timely and useful information to better assess an investment fund's performance, position and future prospects, by presenting financial and non-financial information for all types of investment funds in the same format. The new regime also harmonizes the reporting requirements for investment funds across jurisdictions.
The draft Rule applies to all types of investment funds, including but not limited to, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, split share corporations, labour sponsored investment funds, closed end funds and scholarship plans. Some key measures detailed in the draft Rule include:
- The introduction of narrative annual and quarterly management reports of fund performance.
- The elimination of mandatory delivery of financial statements.
- The right of investors to choose whether to receive financial statements and management reports of fund performance.
- The reduction of filing times to 90 days for annual and 45 days for interim financial statements, which delays will be the same for filing of management reports of fund performance.
- The removal of sometimes outdated performance information and financial highlights from mutual fund simplified prospectuses.
Proposed National Instrument 81-106, Form 81-106F1 on the contents of annual and quarterly management reports of fund performance and Companion Policy 81-106, were published on September 20 for public comment.
The proposed rules may be viewed at the commission websites listed below. The public comment period ends December 19, 2002.
Media Relations Contacts:
| Joni Delaurier Communications Co-ordinator Alberta Securities Commission (403) 297-4481 http://www.albertasecurities.com/ |
Andrew Poon B.C. Securities Commission 604-899-6880 1-800-373-6393 (B.C. & Alberta only) http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/ |
| Ainsley Cunningham Manitoba Securities Commission 204-945-4733 1-800-655-5244 (Manitoba only) http://www.msc.gov.mb.ca/ |
Eric Pelletier Manager, Media Relations Ontario Securities Commission (416) 595-8913 http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/ |
| Barbara Timmins Commission des valeurs mobiliéres du Québec 514-940-2176 1-800-361-5072 (Quebec only) http://www.cvmq.com/ |