The federal financial watchdog has given Canada’s big banks an extension to implement global reforms that establish more consistent disclosure rules to allow them to focus and devote the “significant level of effort required” to implement new international accounting standards for financial instruments.
The fixed income market, renown for its notorious opaqueness, is slowly inching closer towards greater transparency as Canada’s regulators are moving forward with plans to provide retail investors with trading data of corporate debt securities, according to industry professionals.
It may be early days in Canada for fintechs, a catchphrase for new innovative financial technology start-ups and major technology companies that are challenging traditional financial institutions on their turf by offering cheaper and easier-to-use Internet or smartphone based services like payment apps or peer-to-peer lending or digital currencies, but Canada’s Big Six banks are paying heed even though they appear to be on solid ground.
Quebec’s flagging public small and medium-sized financing ecosystem must be bolstered to incite companies to enlist in stock exchanges, spur business to grow faster, and restore Montreal’s status as a major financial centre, according to a report by a working group that received financial and logistical support by the Quebec Order of CPAs.
The practice of law is under duress. Legal service innovations driven by digitalization and globalization are propelling seismic change. So too is the emergence of the sharing economy model which has taken the world by storm. Novel ways of delivering new products and services are seemingly materializing daily to satisfy increasingly demanding and fickle consumers. The rapidly evolving landscape is putting a strain on traditional business models, while governments and regulatory authorities are scrambling to keep up with the dizzying pace of change. But with change comes challenges – and opportunities – for legal service providers and legal protection insurers alike, all of which was explored at a conference held in Montreal recently by the International Association of Legal Protection (RIAD).
Stung by criticism that it has at times acted too late to stop unsound practices, Quebec’s financial watchdog recently warned consumers to be wary of peer-to-peer insurance offerings even though the digital sharing platform has yet to make a formal entrance in Canadian soil.
Tobacco companies suffered a second legal setback in less than a month after the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered two cigarette makers to set aside nearly $1 billion in security, the largest ever in the province’s history, to ensure that money is available to pay victims who won a landmark $15.5 billion class action lawsuit earlier this year.
A controversial report by the Quebec Ministry of Finance that asserts that the current system governing the distribution of financial products and services in the province needs to be reviewed because it risks becoming inadequate and out-dated has been criticized as being unnecessarily alarmist by financial and legal experts.
Less than a year after the Federal Court of Appeal held that a supplier’s delinquent fiscal conduct is irrelevant to an input tax credit claim, the Quebec Court of Appeal has muddied the legal waters with a controversial decision that affirmed that Quebec business are expected as part of an effort to impede tax evasion to conduct due diligence on suppliers in order to be able to obtain input tax credits.
A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that dismissed a proposed securities class action against a Montreal pharmaceutical company will likely make it more difficult for investors to launch these kinds of lawsuits in the future, say class action and securities lawyers.
In a move that caught the business and legal community by surprise, Quebec became the first jurisdiction in Canada to regulate the digital currency sector by requiring businesses that operate virtual currency automated teller machines or trading platforms to obtain a licence to operate in the province.
