Canadian Securities Regulators Support Temporary Order Issued By Ontario Securities Commission Prohibiting Short Selling

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) indicated support today related to the issuance of a Temporary Order by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) prohibiting short selling of securities of certain financial sector issuers that are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and are also interlisted in the United States (with the exception of one issuer whose shares are interchangeable).

“The CSA is supportive of the action taken by the OSC today,” said Jean St-Gelais, Chair of the CSA and President & Chief Executive Officer of the Autorité des marchés financiers (Québec). “Other jurisdictions in the CSA will be taking similar action today, or in the coming days.”

The CSA will also monitor trading in securities of other Canadian financial issuers and take action if necessary.

The OSC took the action in its capacity as lead regulator of the TSX. The action taken by the OSC today supports the action taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier today. The U.K. Financial Services Authority took similar action this week.

The issuers affected are: Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Investment Company Ltd., Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Kingsway Financial Services Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation, Quest Capital Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc., The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Canada Ltd.

The CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, co-ordinates and harmonizes regulation for the Canadian capital markets.