Further to the memorandum of understanding (Main MoU) signed between the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) on 13 May 2025, the SFC and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the financial regulator of Québec, Canada signed a counterpart to the Main MoU on 27 October 2025 (Counterpart MoU) to enhance cooperation on the supervision of investment managers of funds operating in either market.
As a result of the Main MoU and Counterpart MoU, both Ontario and Quebec of Canada are now included in the SFC’s list of acceptable inspection regime (AIR) which is available here. Such inclusion will facilitate OSC-licensed and AMF-licensed managers in providing investment management services in respect of SFC-authorised funds since the Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds requires that the management company or the investment delegate of SFC-authorised funds should either be licensed or registered in Hong Kong or based in AIR jurisdictions.
In the past, although the SFC permitted appointment of management entities based in non-AIR jurisdictions as investment delegates of SFC-authorised funds on a case-by-case basis, such non-AIR delegates must be affiliate(s) of the management company or an AIR delegate of the SFC-authorised funds and are subject to specific requirements on system of internal controls and compliance procedures. With the inclusion of Ontario and Quebec of Canada to the SFC’s list of AIR, it is now possible for OSC-licensed and AMF-licensed managers to act as top-level management company of SFC-authorised funds or be appointed as investment delegate by unaffiliated management company of SFC-authorised funds.
This recent development also demonstrates that the Main MoU paves the way for other Canadian securities regulators to join this arrangement by signing a counterpart to the Main MoU, which can further enhance collaboration between the SFC other Canadian regulators.
