Ontario Securites Commission: Investor News

The OSC Investor Office is continuing to modernize investor education through its new Fact Cards, free digital cards containing unbiased information on investment topics that can be embedded on third-party websites. Fact Cards cover topics ranging from the red flags of investment fraud to understanding mutual funds to checking the registration of a financial advisor. The catalogue of Fact Cards will be continuously updated and expanded.

Fact Cards can be embedded by using a publicly available web code (similar to how YouTube videos can be embedded on websites) and shared through social media links. All Fact Cards are built for use on desktop, tablet and mobile devices, and are available in English and French.

Journalists, media organizations, law enforcement, the financial industry, educational partners and others are encouraged to use Fact Cards in their websites and articles. This has the advantage of providing investors and the public with important factual information from a trusted source while also reducing the need for organizations to produce their own similar content.

Canada’s Financial Literacy Leader Jane Rooney participated in the Fact Cards announcement, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada will be publishing Fact Cards on its website and through social media to promote their use by consumers and stakeholders. Many other organizations are supporting or partnering with the Investor Office to promote and distribute Fact Cards, including law enforcement agencies, investor advocates, investment industry groups, educators and more. Read the full list here.

The Fact Cards launch caught the attention of a number of media outlets, including Investment Executive which noted that "Investment industry and investor advocate groups are praising the launch of new Fact Cards that can be used to educate investors on various topics.”

Approximately $156.1 million will be returned to harmed investors – the largest amount of investor compensation to date in an OSC no-contest settlement (an agreement that allows alleged wrongdoers to pay to settle cases without admitting or denying the accuracy of the facts and conclusions of OSC Staff). The settlement was approved by the OSC on February 10.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) – the umbrella organization of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities regulators that includes the Ontario Securities Commission – recently released their 2015 enforcement report, which looks at the actions that regulators took to enforce Canadian securities laws and protect investors from wrongdoers.

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The investment world can be complex. Get clear, unbiased answers to your questions from a trusted source at Re: Investing.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are accepting comments for a proposed mandatory standardized risk classification methodology for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Learn more.

CMS Ventures Ltd. (now Pandorx Ventures Ltd.)

The OSC added CMS Ventures Limited, now Pandorx Ventures Ltd. and doing business as cmstrader.com, to its Investor Warning List on February 18. Investors are warned that CMS Ventures Limited is not registered in Ontario to trade securities or to advise anyone regarding investing in, buying or selling securities. Learn more.

OSC staff are taking the Commission's regulatory mandate from Bay Street to Main Street with seminars on preventing fraud and making informed investment decisions. Learn more.