The Calgary Herald recently published an article entitled, “Alberta Securities Commission and RCMP create new team to tackle white-collar crime” by Bill Graveland. This new unit called the “Joint Serious Offences Team” will investigate and prosecute cases under Alberta’s Securities Act or the Criminal Code. This unit’s goal will be to target repeat offenders of…
As of July 1, 2016, a new subsection came into force in the Securities Act (Ontario) (the Act) prohibiting a person in a “special relationship” with an issuer, with knowledge of material non-public information (MNPI), from recommending or encouraging a trade in that issuer’s securities. The new subsection 3.1 reads as follows: Recommendation (3.1) No…
On July 26, 2016, the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) adopted ASC Rule 45-517 Prospectus Exemption for Start-Up Businesses. This Rule permits Alberta issuers to raise funds from Alberta investors through an online funding portal that is a registered dealer, a registered dealer, or the network of contacts of the issuer’s principals. The main conditions of…
The Financial Post recently published an article called, “Stock exchange cracks down after stream of ‘shell’ companies make it to market” by Barbara Shecter and Peter Koven. This is a follow-up article to their previous one published in February 2016 called, “Caught in a web of spinoffs: Inside Canada’s expanding universe of ‘shell’ companies”. Shell…
The following article was published in the Globe and Mail on January 18, 2016. It discusses the BC Securities Commission’s computer program that it introduced in 2014 to read regulatory filings. This program uses a computerized “predictive risk model” to find companies that sell securities to unqualified people in the exempt market. According to the…
Ontario is expected to adopt the offering memorandum (OM) exemption on January 13, 2016. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (together with Ontario, the Participating Jurisdictions) are amending their existing OM exemptions so that they are substantially harmonized with Ontario’s OM exemption. The other Participating Jurisdictions expect to adopt their amendments on April…