Amid geopolitical conflicts, inflation, instability in public and private capital markets, emerging from lockdown and successive waves of COVID-19, 2022 transformed our daily lives, including that of the business world.
Despite this, the capital market sector was impacted by a number of regulations and amendments that came into effect or were submitted for comment, specifically to ease the burden on issuers.
Additionally, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations continued to gain traction in Canada. The number of shareholder proposals presented at annual meetings across the countryhas returned to the peak seen in 2013, this time mostly due to the large number of ESG proposals, aslegislators and regulators increase legislative and regulatory initiatives related to these considerations.
Looking back, Fasken presents the highlights of the capital markets industry in 2022.
- Listed Issuer Financing Exemption ("LIFE") under National Instrument 45-106
- Canada Business Corporations Act : changes to the election of directors and shareholder proposals
- Preliminary prospectus exemption for Well Known Seasoned Issuers (WKSI)
- Access equals delivery model for Prospectuses, Financial Statements and MD&A
- 2022 Trends for Shareholder Meetings
- ESG regulatory initiatives
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