On September 12, 2024, CIRO released a Rule Consolidation Project Update, providing very useful information on the project status, comment period participation and decisions made to date by CIRO. Of note, rather than wait until the completion of the project, CIRO announced some decisions already made with respect to prior phases.
For example, CIRO has decided not to allow mutual fund dealers to offer managed accounts, but subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Administrators, will allow mutual fund dealers to offer margin and use client free credit balances within their operations. Consolidation of rules regarding business conduct matters have been moved up to Phase 4 from Phase 5, to allow for earlier review by stakeholders.
The update also provided timelines for Phase 4 and Phase 5 of the project and noted that CIRO plans to complete all rule consultations and publish the complete rules again as a whole for comment in winter 2025-2026.
September 27, 2024