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INVESTOR RIGHTS MONITOR
Insights You Can Use, Advocacy You Can Trust.
September 2026
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CIRO’s CEO Search: A Leadership Moment for Investor Protection
CIRO’s search for its next President and CEO comes at an important moment for Canadian investors and capital markets. With Andrew Kriegler expected to conclude his tenure after guiding the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) through its formative years, the next leader will inherit an organization that is unified and better positioned than when it was created. Under Kriegler's leadership, CIRO established a single national self-regulatory framework, advanced rule harmonization and modernization initiatives, and promoted more consistent treatment of investors across the country.
Andrew and I have had many candid discussions about issues affecting investors and capital markets, and I have always valued his willingness to engage with differing perspectives. Investor protection is strongest when CIRO’s leadership remains open to different views, and preserving that openness will be important for CIRO's future success.
Andrew’s work provides a strong foundation for CIRO’s next phase. Keeping investors’ experiences at the centre of CIRO’s decisions will be the next CEO’s biggest challenge. For investors, the real test will be translating organizational achievements into measurable benefits: better advice, more suitable products, and effective protection when something goes wrong. With the foundation now in place, the focus can increasingly turn to ensuring that its benefits are fully realized by investors.
The next CEO should ask one key question whenever CIRO is considering a new policy or rule: How will it improve the experience of Canadian investors? Answering it requires understanding the practical realities facing both investors and market participants. They must also be prepared to act when industry innovation and practices create unnecessary risk or harm. Lastly, they should recognize that investor protection, market integrity and confidence in Canadian capital markets all go hand in hand.
CIRO’s future success will depend on delivering effectively on its mandate, not on expanding it. Building on Kriegler's achievements, the next CEO should focus on ensuring that CIRO’s work leads to better outcomes for investors. The goal is not to remake the organization, but to ensure it delivers the benefits promised to Canadian investors.
JP Bureaud, CEO, FAIR Canada
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Binding Authority: The Missing Piece in Canada’s Investor Complaint System
For years, FAIR Canada and a coalition of consumer advocates have called on provincial governments and securities regulators to give the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) binding authority. Six years ago, Ontario’s Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce agreed and urged the Government of Ontario to enhance Ontario’s investor protection framework. The Taskforce stated: “a binding, reputable and efficient [dispute resolution service] framework… would be a significant improvement to the retail investor protection framework.” The reason is simple: an investor who goes through an independent complaint process should not be left negotiating over whether the firm will respect the outcome.
The latest independent review concluded that while OBSI is generally working well, the lack of binding decisions undermines the system’s effectiveness and credibility. The review reaffirmed our concerns that lowball settlements demonstrate the need for binding authority. In some cases, consumers received substantially less compensation than OBSI determined was fair. The reviewers concluded that the lack of binding authority creates an unequal playing field and makes the resolution process less efficient.
After four independent reviews recommending binding authority and years of public consultations, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are finalizing a framework to make it happen. Together with many other consumer advocates, we look forward to seeing it cross the finish line. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick have already introduced legislation to make it a reality. FAIR Canada and coalition members call on the remaining provinces and territories to do the same to strengthen the complaint-handling system.
The reviewer also agreed with our view that OBSI’s systemic issue reporting needs strengthening. OBSI’s role gives it a unique view into complaints across firms and products, helping it to identify recurring or emerging problems before they become more widespread. The review found that OBSI’s approach to identifying and reporting possible systemic issues has been overly cautious and recommended a stronger “when in doubt, report” approach.
Speeding up complaint reviews is another area that needs improvement. Growing complaint volumes have delayed the assignment of complaints to investigators. However, OBSI’s public reporting excludes that waiting period, so it does not reflect consumers’ experiences. Consistent with FAIR Canada’s comments on more transparent timelines, the reviewer recommended measuring timelines from the point at which consumers enter the OBSI process, rather than from when an investigator is assigned. The reviewer further recommended that OBSI adopt and publicly report against a 30-day target for assigning complaints.
Overall, the review echoed many of FAIR Canada’s comments. Most critically, it reinforces what FAIR and the Taskforce have said for years: OBSI cannot fully protect consumers without binding authority.
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CIRO Continuing Education (CE) Rules
Continuing education is an important part of maintaining investor confidence in financial advice. In our submission on CIRO’s proposed CE rules, FAIR Canada supported the goal of harmonizing requirements across investment dealers and mutual fund dealers. However, we emphasized that harmonization should mean adopting the highest existing standard, not reducing standards for the sake of consistency.
FAIR Canada is concerned that CIRO’s proposal would move the much larger population of mutual fund dealer representatives to the less rigorous CE model for investment dealers. We urged CIRO to maintain mandatory accreditation requirements and recommended a centralized reporting system so CIRO can better track compliance with CE requirements. A modern CE framework should strengthen accreditation, recordkeeping, compliance monitoring, and regulatory oversight to better support professional competence and investor protection.
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CSA and CIRO Provide Guidance on Prediction Markets
FAIR Canada welcomes the August 27 joint notice from the CSA and CIRO on prediction markets. Prediction market contracts allow investors to bet on the outcome of future events. While they may be presented as financial innovation and a new way to manage risk, FAIR Canada is concerned that many are gambling products dressed up as financial instruments.
The joint notice expresses the view that event contracts based on sports and entertainment events or outcomes should not be regulated as securities or derivatives, and that securities dealers should not seek approval to offer such contracts.
However, this hardly settles the matter. Many types of prediction market contracts function more like bets than investments and should be subject to stronger consumer protections and regulatory oversight. In this regard, FAIR Canada supports the CSA and CIRO’s review of other types of event contracts, including whether further restrictions or other changes are needed to previously approved event contracts.
That analysis should not turn on whether a contract meets the technical definition of a derivative. Regulators must consider what these products are designed to do, how they are used, and whether they are, in substance, closer to investing or gambling. Innovation in financial markets is important. But so is ensuring that products offered through investment platforms are consistent with the public interest and the objectives of securities regulation.
Our concerns are heightened since these event contracts are being offered through order-execution-only platforms where investors do not receive advice. As a result, retail investors may be encouraged to trade complex, speculative products that do not match their financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. As regulators continue their review, FAIR Canada urges them to keep investor protection, market integrity, and the public interest at the centre of any future decisions about prediction markets.
Read our press release to learn more.
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Ontario Moves Toward the CSA Passport System
After nearly 20 years outside the system, Ontario committed to joining the CSA passport system. The passport system allows firms to access capital markets across most of Canada by working primarily with a single principal regulator, reducing duplicate reviews and regulatory processes.
For jurisdictions already using the passport system, Ontario’s participation would help make the framework more complete and reduce the complications that come from having Canada’s largest capital market partly outside the system. In practice, however, the changes may be less dramatic than they appear because Ontario already works closely with other securities regulators: other regulators accept certain Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) decisions, and the OSC accepts certain decisions by other regulators while retaining discretion to make its own decisions.
The real test is what happens next. For investors, the key question is whether a more complete system will deliver stronger and more consistent protection, regardless of where they live or which regulator does the review. The passport system relies on regulators applying the same rules consistently and making comparable decisions across the country.
As investors may increasingly be affected by the decisions of a regulator outside their home province or territory, confidence in the system will depend on regulators applying the rules consistently. For FAIR Canada, the objective is simple - a more complete passport system should strengthen investor protection, not make it easier for decisions that fall short to be adopted elsewhere.
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Securities Lending Resource
If you are a do-it-yourself investor, you may have noticed a new option to lend your securities and earn income. This article from CIRO’s Office of the Investor explains what securities lending is and the risks investors should understand before participating.
Securities lending involves an investor temporarily lending their shares to other investors, typically for short selling. You still own the shares, but someone else is borrowing them behind the scenes. In return, you may receive a fee.
Although it can provide additional income, there are important risks to consider:
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Participation is voluntary: Your investment dealer must obtain your consent before lending your shares.
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Risk of loss: If the borrower defaults or your dealer becomes insolvent, you may not recover your shares and could have limited access to the collateral backing the loan.
- No insurance coverage: The Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) does not cover shares on loan.
- Dividend impact: If the shares you own pay a dividend, you get a substitute cash payment instead, which may have tax implications.
- No voting rights: You cannot vote on corporate matters while your shares are on loan.
- Revenue sharing may be unclear: Dealers have different ways of splitting earnings from securities lending with clients. It may be difficult to determine if the fee you receive is fair.
- Conflicts of interest: Brokers earn fees by lending out client shares, creating an incentive for them to promote participation, even when the risks to investors may outweigh the benefits.
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Our CEO joins the FCAC’s Consumer Protection Advisory Committee
Our Executive Director and CEO, Jean-Paul Bureaud has joined the Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (CPAC) for a two-year term. CPAC provides guidance and expert advice to the Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) on issues affecting financial consumers. The committee helps inform FCAC’s supervision, research, consumer education, and policy analysis, as well as its understanding of marketplace trends and consumers’ evolving needs. His participation will help ensure that the investor and consumer protection perspectives are reflected in discussions that help shape financial consumer protection across Canada.
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Do you have feedback on our newsletter or suggestions for topics you’d like us to write about? Your input is valuable and will help us improve our newsletter content for loyal subscribers like you. Please email us at info@faircanada.ca with your comments and/or suggestions.
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