Fintech cooperation agreements with Australia and France were concluded late in 2017 by Canadian securities regulators representing Canada's eight largest provinces.

These agreements have two broad purposes:

  • sharing "lessons learned" from fintech regulation initiatives; and
  • creating mutual referral processes that will enable innovative fintech businesses to enter new markets.

The Canadian jurisdictions that have not signed on to the Australian and French agreements are Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island and the three northern territories.

Australia

The cooperation agreement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) essentially extends the agreement signed in 2016 between ASIC and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to the following additional regulators:

  • Alberta Securities Commission
  • British Columbia Securities Commission
  • Manitoba Securities Commission
  • Financial and Consumer Services Commission (New Brunswick)
  • Nova Scotia Securities Commission
  • Autorité des Marchés Financiers (Quebec)
  • Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan

The new agreement follows the implementation of the CSA Regulatory Sandbox, much as the original ASIC-OSC accord was prompted by the creation of the OSC LaunchPad and ASIC's Innovation Hub.

France

The agreement between the eight jurisdictions and France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF France) has the same purposes as the Australian agreement and generally follows the same template. One minor difference is that the agreement with France is to be reviewed within two years while the agreement with Australia will be reviewed only as required.

Notes

  • The agreements with Australia and France follow a similar agreement among the same Canadian regulators with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi, which we discussed here. The OSC also announced an agreement with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority in March of 2017.
  • The agreements do not pertain to the sharing of information among the Canadian commissions.

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