With prospectus filings slowing, OSC promises faster reviews

With market activity declining in recent months, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is returning to its pre-pandemic standards for carrying out prospectus reviews.

In 2021 amid a flurry of filing activity, the OSC extended the time it expected to take to review prospectus filings.

For instance, it revised its standard for providing an initial response on a preliminary prospectus from 10 working days to 15 days.

Those expanded timelines were slated to run until March 31; however, the OSC announced on Thursday that it will revert to its previous standards, effective Jan. 9.

That means that issuers can once again expect the regulator to provide its initial response to a prospectus filing within 10 working days. And responses to short-form or shelf prospectus filings will once again be expected within three working days, down from five.

In making the change back to its pre-pandemic service standards, the OSC pointed to the “current level of market activity,” which allowed it to return to the prior standards sooner than planned.

Other temporary changes to OSC service standards, affecting its responses to registration filings, and other sorts of regulatory reviews remain in effect.

Under its service standards, the regulator aims to meet these deadlines for at least 80% of the filings it receives.

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.