U.S. financial regulatory reform affects Canadian issuers
As reported widely in the media and discussed here in a blog post back in July, U.S. President Barack Obama recently signed into law sweeping new legislation intended to overhaul the U.S. financial regulatory system. While the extent of the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act may not be known for years, a number of considerations for Canadian issuers are immediately evident. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- Changes to disclosure requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 may impact MJDS filers by imposing additional disclosure obligations.
- Non-U.S advisers of private investment funds will, under certain circumstances, be required to register with the SEC, which will lead to new substantive requirements for such advisers.
- Further rule-making by U.S. regulators under the authority of Dodd-Frank will likely also affect Canadian issuers. For example, the SEC's new proxy rules will, under certain circumstances, apply to foreign issuers that are otherwise subject to U.S. proxy rules.
As can be seen, the long arm of financial regulatory reform in the U.S. may very well reach Canadian issuers. For that reason, issuers in this country should keep abreast of developments as they come to light.
