Bennett Jones lawyer Usman Sheikh sits down with Susan Wolburgh Jenah, President and CEO of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), to discuss a No Contest Settlement Policy for IIROC, Regulating High Frequency Traders and Dark Pools, Advancing the Role of Women, A Possible IIROC / MFDA Merger, Learning from Market Crises and more.
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The CSA have extended the comment period in respect of their proposed proxy advisory firm guidance published in April.
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Activist shareholders have been accused of hindering innovation in companies they target. During a 2-3 year activist engagement in a company, activist shareholders focused on pursuing short-term goals may seek to cut costs in the target, maximize profits, then exit quickly, (possibly) with little care for the long-term prospects of the target company. In Hedge Fund Activism and Corporate Innovation (the Paper), He, Qui and Tang (the Authors) argue that is not necessarily the case, and that in fact activist shareholders can and do spur innovation, especially in the technology sector.
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In a speech delivered on June 5, 2014 at the Sandler O'Neill Global Exchange and Brokerage Conference in New York, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White unveiled a package of SEC initiatives aimed at reforming the nation's equity markets and increasing transparency for investors.
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High speed trading, dark pools and similar market structure issues have become hotly debated topics. Former CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton gave several speeches discussing the subjects and proposed that high speed traders be required to register. SEC Chair Mary Jo White discussed these questions in her recent address titled "Enhancing Our Equity Market Structure." FINRA announced last week an initiative to disclose certain statistics on a delayed basis regarding dark pools. Authors Michal Lewis, who wrote Flash Boys, and Scott Patterson, who authored Dark Pools, both discussed these topics and called the markets "rigged." All of this is generating studies and possibly proposed new rules.
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On May 22, 2014 the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published, for a 90 day comment period, proposed amendments to National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations (NI 51-102), National Instrument 41-101 General Prospectus Requirements (NI 41-101) and National Instrument 52-110 Audit Committees (NI 52-110) (collectively, the Proposed Amendments).
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As of July 1, 2014, businesses that engage in the sending of business messages to recipients in Canada will be subject to Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL) which will generally prohibit the sending of a commercial electronic message without the prior explicit consent of the message recipient. CASL is expected to have a significant impact on the marketing practices of businesses operating in Canada and will apply equally to non-Canadian businesses, including dealers, advisers and fund managers that send commercial electronic messages into Canada.
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Word has it that the SEC will soon issue "guidance" designed to address proxy advisory firms, such as ISS. According to the WSJ, the new guidance will focus primarily on disclosure of conflicts of interest. But don't hold your breath - similar guidance was expected in 2012.
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