OSC to play Robin Hood with fees

Smaller investment firms and issuers will see some reduction in fees from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) — but larger players, and crypto platforms will see their regulatory fees rise — under changes proposed by the OSC on Thursday.

The regulator published proposed changes to its fee model for public comment that, the OSC said, will reduce fees on small industry firms (such as dealers and fund managers), along with small issuers.  

Specifically, it’s proposing to reduce participation fees for small registered firms — defined as firms with annual revenues of between $500,000 and $1 million — which will cut fees on these firms by a total of $0.3 million. And, it plans to merge the two lowest fee tiers for issuers and registrants, which it estimates will lower annual fees on this group by another $0.2 million.

Additionally, the regulator is proposing to reduce the prospectus filing fee by 21%.

At the same time, the OSC is also proposing to introduce new fee tiers for the largest issuers and registered firms, which will raise their fees by an estimated $10 million — noting that the fees for these firms “are disproportionately low in relation to [recent] market growth.”

It’s also planning to increase some activity and late fees, which will raise annual fees by $2.4 million; to index participation fees to inflation (raising fees by another $1.8 million, once those increases take effect); and to make other changes that will add another $1.1 million in fees.

Finally, it’s proposing to introduce a new fee structure for crypto trading platforms that, it said, is needed to “reflect the growing level of oversight in this expanding area towards investor protection and to support innovation.”

“The proposed changes are designed to deliver fee relief to most market participants, encourage capital formation, enhance fee predictability, and recalibrate fees to support proportionality amongst market participants,” the regulator said in a statement accompanying the proposed changes.

The net effect of all the changes will be to increase average annual OSC revenues by $16 million for the next three fiscal years (to March 2030). 

The proposed changes, which would take effect in fiscal 2028 (starting April 2027), are now out for comment until July 29.

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.