Notice of Commission Approval – Amendments Respecting Provision of Price Improvement by a Dark Order – Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)

 
The Ontario Securities Commission has approved IIROC's proposed amendments to the Universal Market Integrity Rules respecting provision of price improvement by a dark order (the “Amendments”).

The Amendments modify the dark order price improvement requirements when trading against certain orders by adding a minimum order value of $30,000, in addition to the current threshold of 50 standard trading units. The combination of both a minimum dollar value and a minimum volume threshold will better capture small orders, especially those in low-price securities for the purposes of dark order price improvement requirements.

The Amendments were published for public comment on December 13, 2018. IIROC received ten comment letters on the Amendments and no changes have subsequently been made to the Amendments. A copy of the IIROC Notice, including the text of the Amendments, can be found at www.osc.ca.

The Amendments will come into force on February 4, 2020, being 180 days after the publication of this Notice of Approval.

In addition, the Alberta Securities Commission; the Autorité des marchés financiers; the British Columbia Securities Commission; the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan; the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick; the Legal Registries Division, Department of Justice (Northwest Territories); the Legal Registries Division, Department of Justice (Nunavut); the Manitoba Securities Commission; the Nova Scotia Securities Commission; the Office of the Superintendent of Securities, Service Newfoundland and Labrador; the Office of the Yukon Superintendent of Securities; and the Prince Edward Island Office of the Superintendent of Securities Office have approved or not objected to the Amendments.