2022-12-15
The Canadian Securities Administrators propose amendments to Regulation 24-101 to facilitate the migration to a T+1 settlement cycle for equity and long-term debt trades in 2024. The draft revisions accelerate the institutional trade matching deadline from noon on T+1 to 9 p.m. on the trade date and permanently repeal the burdensome exception reporting requirement. Additionally, the document includes housekeeping updates to clarify existing requirements and align regulatory references with the new settlement timeline.
1 CSA Notice of Consultation Draft Regulation to amend Regulation 24-101 respecting Institutional Trade Matching and Settlement Draft Amendments to Policy Statement to Regulation 24-101 respecting Institutional Trade Matching and Settlement December 15, 2022 Part I. Introduction The Canadian Securities Administrators (the CSA or we) are publishing for comment Draft Regulation to amend Regulation 24-101 respecting Institutional Trade Matching and Settlement (Regulation 24-101 or the Regulation) and Draft Amendments to Policy Statement to Regulation 24-101 respecting Institutional Trade Matching and Settlement (Policy Statement 24-101 or the Policy Statement). Collectively, the Draft Regulation to amend the Regulation (Draft Regulation) and the Draft Amendments to the Policy Statement will be referred to as the Draft Revisions. Some provisions of the Draft Revisions amend the Regulation and the Policy Statement in anticipation of shortening the standard settlement cycle for equity and long-term debt market trades in Canada from two days after the date of a trade (T+2) to one day after the date of a trade (T+1). The move to a T+1 settlement cycle is expected to occur in 2024, at the same time as the markets in the United States move to a T+1 settlement cycle. The Draft Revisions would also repeal the exception reporting requirements in Part 4 of Regulation 24-101, including the requirement to file Form 24-101F1 Registered Firm Exception Reporting of DAP/RAP Trade Reporting and Matching (Form 24-101F1) and make related changes to Policy Statement 24-101. Other Draft Revisions are more housekeeping in nature as they are intended to clarify and update existing requirements. The Draft Revisions will be available on the websites of CSA jurisdictions, including: www.lautorite.qc.ca www.asc.ca www.bcsc.bc.ca https://nssc.novascotia.ca https://fcnb.ca www.osc.gov.on.ca www.fcaa.gov.sk.ca www.mbsecurities.ca We are publishing this Notice and the Draft Revisions for comment for 90 days. The comment period will expire March 17, 2023. See below under “Comment process” in Part V. Part II. Purpose of Draft Revisions
2 Registered dealers and advisers trading on a DAP/RAP1 basis for or with an institutional investor must have ITM policies and procedures designed to match a DAP/RAP trade as soon as practical after the trade is executed, but currently by noon on T+1 (ITM deadline). In addition, registered firms must complete and file a Form 24-101F1 for every calendar quarter where they do not meet the ITM threshold of matching 90 percent of trades by value and volume before the ITM deadline (Exception Reporting Requirement).2 We note that this requirement is currently subject to a moratorium, discussed below. The Regulation also requires clearing agencies (in particular, CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc.) and matching service utilities to submit quarterly data on the matching of institutional equity and debt trades of their participants or users. For more background information on Regulation 24-101, including its history and regulatory objective, please see the Consultation Paper that was published with the 2016 Notice and Request for Comment.3 2. Migration to T+1 settlement cycle The Canadian securities industry is preparing for the migration to a standard T+1 settlement cycle in 2024 at the same time as the industry in the United States is moving to T+1.4 While Regulation 24-101 does not expressly mandate a T+2 settlement cycle, and would not currently prevent the T+1 migration, there are a few provisions that require revision to facilitate the move to a T+1 settlement cycle and promote uniformity of settlement times across the industry. We are therefore proposing to repeal “T+2” in the Regulation’s definitions section, and to amend subsections 3.1(1) and 3.3(1) of Part 3 Trade Matching Requirements to require registered dealers and registered advisers to have policies and procedures in place designed to achieve institutional trade matching by 9 p.m. Eastern Time on the date of a trade (T), as opposed to the current requirement of 12 p.m. (noon) Eastern Time on T+1. We are also proposing amendments to Form 24-101F2 Clearing Agency Quarterly Operations Report of Institutional Trade Reporting and Matching and Form 24-101F5 Matching Service Utility Quarterly Operations Report of Institutional Trade Reporting and Matching that would change the ITM data reporting requirements to T at 12 p.m., T at 9 p.m., T+1 at 12 p.m., T+1 at 3 p.m., T+1 at 11:59 p.m., and after T+1. These amendments are intended not only to support the upcoming move to settlement on T+1, but also the potential move to settlement on T.5 For a successful migration to T+1 settlement, registered firms and other capital market stakeholders will need to review and change, as required, their current clearing and settlement procedures and internal operations and processes. In addition, marketplaces and clearing agencies may need to update various rules and procedures that specifically mandate a particular settlement cycle, that are keyed to the settlement date and require pre-settlement actions, or that generally facilitate the clearance and settlement of trades. 3. Repealing the Exception Reporting Requirement We are proposing to repeal the Exception Reporting Requirement in Part 4 of the Regulation. This change will codify and replace the current reporting moratorium provided by blanket orders and a local rule in Ontario. 4. Other amendments to update and clarify Regulation 24-101 While our primary focus is to support the move to T+1 and reduce regulatory burden by eliminating the Exception Reporting Requirement, we have also proposed amendments to update and clarify Regulation 24-101. Part III. Summary of the Draft Revisions Section 1 of this Part explains our Draft Revisions in anticipation of the transition to a T+1 settlement cycle, including our proposal to amend the ITM deadline from noon on T+1 to 9 p.m. on T. Section 2 of this Part explains our Draft Revisions relating to the repeal of the Exception Reporting Requirement. Section 3 describes the modernizing and 1 See subsections 3.1(1) and 3.3(1) of the Regulation. A DAP/RAP trade is a trade in a security executed for a client account that permits settlement on a delivery against payment or receipt against payment basis through the facilities of a clearing agency, and for which settlement is completed on behalf of the client by a custodian other than the dealer that executed the trade. See the definition “DAP/RAP trade” in section 1.1 of the Regulation. 2 See section 4.1 of the Regulation. 3 See: https://lautorite.qc.ca/fileadmin/lautorite/reglementation/valeurs-mobilieres/24-101/2016-08-18/2016aout18-24-101-AvisACVM-en.pdf, specifically https://lautorite.qc.ca/fileadmin/lautorite/reglementation/valeurs-mobilieres/24-101/2016-08- 18/2016aout18-24-402-Doc-consul-en.pdf. 4 For more information about the US move to T+1 please see: https://www.dtcc.com/ust1. For more information about Canada’s move to T+1 please see: http://ccma-acmc.ca/en/t1-resources/. 5 The SEC has indicated in its T+1 rule proposals that it would like industry to begin considering and preparing for a move to a settlement date of T: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-2.1
3 clarifying amendments to Regulation 24-101 including Form 24-101F2 and Form 24-101F5. Section 4 describes the Draft Amendments to the Policy Statement. We welcome comments from stakeholders on all aspects of these amendments.
4 establishing, maintaining, and enforcing policies and procedures to achieve the matching threshold for institutional trades. CSA Staff recognize that the reporting moratorium is set to expire prior to the proposed implementation date for the Draft Regulation. We anticipate that the moratorium will be extended in all CSA jurisdictions until such time as the proposed amendment, if approved, comes into effect. 3. Other draft amendments to Regulation 24-101 While our primary focus is to support the move to T+1 and reduce regulatory burden by eliminating the Exception Reporting Requirement, we have also proposed the following amendments to update and clarify Regulation 24-101: • Adding a reference to cyber-resilience to the system requirements in s. 6.5a(iv) of Part 6 to reflect the increasing importance of cybersecurity to the core system requirements of matching service utilities; • Updating the instructions for Exhibit N of Form F3 to remove the reference to "during normal business hours”; and • Housekeeping amendments in the form of changing references to months in the various Form instructions from “MMM” to “MM” and correcting minor typographical punctuation errors.
5 Part V. Request for Comments
6 Questions with respect to this Notice and the Draft Revisions may be referred to: Dominique Martin, Senior Director, Market Activities and Derivatives Autorité des marchés financiers Tel: 514 395-0337, ext. 4351 Toll free: 1 877 525-0337 Email: dominique.martin@lautorite.qc.ca Francis Coche Derivative Products Analyst - Oversight of Clearing Activities Market Activities and Derivatives Autorité des marchés financiers Tel: 514 395-0337, ext. 4343 Toll free: 1 877 525-0337 Email: Francis.Coche@lautorite.qc.ca Aaron Ferguson Manager, Market Regulation Ontario Securities Commission Tel: 416 593-3676 Email: aferguson@osc.gov.on.ca Stephanie Wakefield Senior Legal Counsel, Market Regulation Ontario Securities Commission Tel: 647 401-8397 Email: swakefield@osc.gov.on.ca Jarrod Smith Senior Accountant, Market Regulation Ontario Securities Commission Tel: 647 984-9254 Email: jsmith@osc.gov.on.ca Harvey Steblyk Senior Legal Counsel, Market Regulation Alberta Securities Commission Tel: 403 297-2468 Email: harvey.steblyk@asc.ca Rina Jaswal Senior Legal Counsel, Capital Markets Regulation British Columbia Securities Commission Tel: 604 899-6683 Email: rjaswal@bcsc.bc.ca Paula White Deputy Director, Compliance and Oversight Manitoba Securities Commission Tel: 204 945-5195 Email: paula.white@gov.mb.ca Liz Kutarna Director, Capital Markets, Securities Division Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan Tel: 306 787-5871 Email: liz.kutarna@gov.sk.ca David Shore Senior Legal Counsel Financial and Consumer Services Commission (New Brunswick) Tel: 506 658-3038 Email: david.shore@fcnb.ca