Canada: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Regulation and Supervision of Investment Funds

This technical note considers the regulation, supervision and systemic risk monitoring of the investment fund (IF) sector in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec. The IF sector in Canada is dominated by mutual funds, including those investing in equity and fixed income, while privately offered funds represent a significant proportion of assets under management (AUM). Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting strong inflows. Canadian IFs invest a significant proportion of their assets in fixed income securities of Canadian issuers. Unitholders are predominantly domestic. The sector is systemically relevant within Canada and of global significance in terms of AUM. Taken together, 90 percent of the AUM of the industry is managed by registered entities that have either the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) or Québec Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) as their principal regulator.