OSC signs deal with U.K. counterpart
TORONTO• The Ontario Securities Commission has signed a deal with its regulatory counterpart in the United Kingdom to provide support to emerging fintech startups in both markets looking to expand their businesses across the pond.
Under the agreement, signed this week between Canada’s largest provincial securities regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, regulators may provide support to “help reduce regulatory uncertainty and time to market,” the OSC and the FCA said in a joint announcement on Wednesday.
This comes after the OSC unveiled its LaunchPad project, a fintech hub within the regulator aimed at supporting new and early-stage fintech businesses, in October.
“We are hearing f rom many emerging businesses that offer innovative services, products and applications of benefit to investors,” said Maureen Jensen, chair and chief executive of the OSC, in a statement. “Many of these businesses are also seeking to expand globally, and this agreement reflects our ongoing commitment to enhancing their regulatory experience.”
After referral from the regulator, emerging fintech businesses will have access to dedicated staff who will help to decipher the regulatory framework in the other market before applying for authorization to operate there.
Both regulators have also committed to sharing information on trends and regulatory issues around innovation in the financial services space.
Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, called the agreement a “positive step.”
“It provides FinTech businesses in Ontario and the U. K. with ready access to the regulatory support they need,” he said in a statement.
The OSC already signed a similar agreement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in November.
It is still “early days” for the ASIC agreement, but OSC LaunchPad staff have had “productive discussions” with their Australian counterparts, said Pat Chaukos, head of OSC LaunchPad.
“We are learning from one another’s experiences, and hope to use this knowledge to enhance the regulatory experience for innovative businesses seeking to enter our markets,” she said in an emailed statement.
The relationship between finance and technology continues to deepen, as fintech startups proliferate and Canada’s big banks push into the digital sphere.
Meanwhile, Canada’s regulators and policy-makers are trying to navigate the balance between allowing innovation to flourish while protecting consumers and the Canadian financial system. A panel discussion Tuesday held by the federal Competition Bureau, regulators and policy-makers called for more collaboration at home as the fintech landscape in Canada evolves.
Fintech businesses in Canada come in many shapes and forms — from online lenders to robo- advisers — and as such can fall under the purview of one or many regulatory bodies such as the federal Department of Finance, the Ontario Securities Commission, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, and Payments Canada.
Agencies will need to be in much closer contact than they were in the past, said Gérard Cossette, director of FINTRAC on Tuesday.
Postmedia Network Inc., owner of the Financial Post, has a marketing and revenue sharing agreement with a fintech lender, Vancouverbased Mogo Financial Technology Inc.