Canadian securities regulators sign deal with Singaporean counterpart

Securities regulators are building on their efforts to support fintech innovation with a new co-operation agreement between several Canadian regulators and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) announced that regulators from eight provinces have signed a deal with the MAS that creates a referral mechanism for innovative businesses between the regulators and sets out information-sharing arrangements between them.

“This agreement with MAS will allow innovative businesses in Canada and Singapore access to new regulated markets,” said Louis Morisset, chair of the CSA and president and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers.

“Flexible regulatory environments with appropriate investor protection measures are best-placed to support the rapidly growing fintech industry,” he added.

The CSA signatories to the deal include the regulators from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

“Singapore and Canada are no strangers in fintech collaboration,” said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at the MAS. “This co-operation agreement will strengthen our co-operation between the two countries, specifically in developing innovative solutions for the securities sector,”

Separately, the MAS also announced the creation of a prototype for a fintech research platform — along with Deloitte and S&P Global Market Intelligence — that aims to “help investors and financial institutions connect with fintech start-ups that they can partner with or invest in.”

“We believe that the deployment of capital in start-ups, particularly those offering business-to-business solutions, can be vastly improved by enhancing transparency and increasing the confidence in data on early-stage companies,” Mohanty said.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.