Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), at the behest of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), unveiled guidelines on Friday governing the disclosure of corporate information to investors, Reuters reported Friday. The goal of the guidelines were to ensure the general public is put on a level playing field with corporate and institutional investors.
The regulators suggest companies create written policies outlining timely and broad disclosure to the marketplace and that they limit the number of people within their companies authorized to talk to analysts, the media, and investors.
The report, which comes as the United States also strives to clarify its selective disclosure guidelines, aims to ensure that all investors are given the same access to corporate information that could affect a stock’s performance, said Reuters.
Canadian associations, such as the Canadian Investor Relations Institute, welcomed the policy recommendations.
The report contains 11 recommendations that are now open for public discussion for 60 days, said Reuters.
The recommendations follow guidelines released last month by Canada’s stock exchanges stressing the need for analysts to declare all potential conflicts of interest in their research reports.