Industrial Alliance opposes securities commission
Insurance and financial services company Industrial Alliance said that it doesn’t support a proposed national securities commission and wants a better enforcement of prosecuting white collar crimes.
The Quebec-based company, Canada’s fourth-largest life insurer, said most of the regulations are already harmonized between the provinces and territories and it supports further harmonization. Industrial Alliance said the federal government has an important role to play in strengthening criminal proceedings and becoming more involved in investigations into white collar crime.
“The current priority is not to modify structures, which are working relatively well, but to improve laws and invest more resources to better protect Canadians against economic crimes,” president and CEO Yvon Charest said in a statement.
“We favour dialogue and consensus-building to achieve an optimal, harmonized supervision of the financial system which will satisfy all economic players,” Charest added.
A coalition of Quebec business leader has warned that a single national securities regulator threatens thousands of jobs in the province and weakens economic development.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has said that studies have consistently shown that having 13 provincial or territorial regulators instead of one adds to costs. Flaherty has said Canada is the only country in the G20 without a national securities regulator, something he described as “an international embarrassment to Canada which otherwise has a very strong brand in financial institutions and regulation around the world.”
