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(July 16, 2008) Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers is defending its turf before the Expert Panel on Securities Regulation, dubbing the call for a single regulator “a needless proposal.”

Waiting until the final day for comment, the AMF claims that the current regulatory regime is adequate, because the securities market is small, yet spread over a vast landscape.

“Against this backdrop, a system of provincial and territorial regulators serves as the most appropriate framework model, as regulators are able to identify and respond more effectively to the specific needs of firms in their jurisdictions, while striving to harmonize securities regulations and processes,” the regulator said in its eleventh-hour submission.

The AMF went on to say that there is no convincing evidence that a single regulator would be any better than the passport model.

On Tuesday, the Expert Panel heard from the Canadian Bankers Association and Financial Executives International Canada, which both called for a single regulator.

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BCSC fines firm, rep

(July 16, 2008) The British Columbia Securities Commission has fined Global Securities Corporation and one of its salespeople, Monty Gregory Lorne Montaine, for trading in a security that was subject to a cease trade order.

Montaine had manually entered two sales orders for Brookmount Exploration Inc., an Alberta-based company traded on the U.S. Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board market. He did so without consulting Global’s electronic order management system (OMS) or the National Cease Trade Order Database.

On June 21, 2007, a day after the security was halted, Global accepted the first of the two orders, selling 100,000 shares of Brookmount. On the following day, it sold 75,000 shares, contrary to the cease trade order.

According to the settlement with the BCSC, the first trade entered the market because Global’s data service provider had not yet placed the restrictions on the OMS system.

However, the OMS system did not permit the second trade because the restriction was in place. Global cancelled all the orders and covered its short position of 175,000 Brookmount shares under a partial BCSC revocation order in August 2007.

Global has paid $16,050 to the BCSC, which includes $1,050 in profit that the company made on the purchase of Brookmount shares, and Montaine has paid $5,000.

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Dollar to stabilize

(July 16, 2008) The Canadian manufacturing sector should get some relief from the soaring dollar over the next 18 months, according to the Conference Board of Canada’s Canadian Outlook — Summer 2008.

“The loonie seems to have stopped riding the coattails of rising energy prices. The Canadian dollar is expected to remain relatively stable over 2008 and 2009, just shy of parity with the U.S. greenback,” said Pedro Antunes, director, national and provincial forecast. “This delinking between rising commodity prices and the value of the loonie is a factor in the Bank of Canada’s decision to stop cutting interest rates.”

The export-reliant manufacturing sector has been the greatest source of drag in the Canadian economy over the past four years, he said, while domestic consumer demand remained strong.

But consumers appear to be taking the American economic slowdown more seriously of late, tightening their purse strings. The Conference Board predicts that employment growth will slow, and 2008’s GDP growth will be lucky to reach 1.7%.

(07/16/08)