Canadian Structured Finance Law : Canadian Structured Finance Law: Securitization/OTC Derivatives Blog by Stikeman Elliot Lawyers & Attorneys

Margaret Grottenthaler -
 

The cash collateral working group drafting subcommittee of the Ontario Personal Property Security Law Sub-Committee of the Ontario Bar Association’s Business Law Section has prepared a draft proposal to amend Ontario personal property security law to deal more effectively with cash collateral. Over the past year the working group circulated a number of draft proposals and this final proposal reflects input from many committee members and others. The proposal is to be considered by the PPSL Committee later this month and if approved (which hopefully it will be) will serve as the basis for a formal submission of the Business Law Section of the OBA to the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services (with a copy to the Ministry of Finance) early in this year. If the proposal is acceptable to the government, it is hoped that it could be put before the legislature shortly thereafter. Comments on the draft proposal are welcome.  For more information, see the background paper on the proposals.

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Sterling Dietze -

The Quebec National Assembly passed, on November 30, 2011, an Act to amend various legislative provisions mainly concerning the financial sector. As part of that Act, amendments were made to the Derivatives Act (Quebec) in respect of the use of set-off related to cash posted as credit support. We discussed the proposed amendments in a prior post. The provisions are now in force.

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Sterling H. Dietze -

It is currently a challenge in Canada for Canadian entities in the derivatives, securities lending and repurchase space to offer a first priority security interest on cash to their counterparties. The Quebec government recently introduced an amendment to the Derivatives Act (Quebec) (the QDA) that, if passed as tabled, will restore confidence in the use of absolute transfer of cash and the related use of contractual set-off or compensation when dealing with cash as credit support for these types of transactions from Quebec counterparties. The amendments also specifically address cash collateral provided to a derivatives clearing agency by its members. We give some background to this issue and then outline the application of the proposed rule.

Background

Cash as credit support for obligations of counterparties to derivatives, securities lending and repurchase transactions has become more and more prevalent over the past numbers of years. ISDA has reported that 80% of collateral for derivatives contracts is in the form of cash. The use of cash collateral will increase in importance as more and more derivatives transactions are cleared by central counterparties.

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On November 10, 2011, the Quebec Minister for Finance introduced an amendment to Bill 7 presently before the Committee on Public Finance of the National Assembly which contemplates an amendment to the Derivatives Act (Quebec). The intent of the proposed rule is to give more clarity and certainty to the effectiveness of a contractual right of set-off in respect of cash given as credit support in connection with agreements including derivatives, securities lending and repurchase agreements (as well as under related master agreements) and dealings between a derivatives clear agency and its members. A more in-depth note will follow next week.

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The Canadian Securities Administrators released a staff notice today communicating their concern regarding firms that carry out brokerage activities registering as exempt market dealers. The notice describes such firms as being primarily U.S.-based broker-dealers that are members of FINRA.

According to CSA staff, the EMD category of registration was not intended for firms that conduct brokerage activities (trading securities listed on an exchange in foreign or Canadian markets), and the notice states that permitting such activity would result in differing levels of regulatory oversight between EMDs and those firms subject to IIROC requirements and supervision.

In light of their concerns, the CSA will instead "consider" registering these broker-dealers in the restricted dealer category with terms and conditions, including a requirement that such broker-dealers only deal with permitted clients. Such registrations would also be temporary while the CSA engage in a consultation process to ensure that "appropriate regulatory requirements" apply to all firms undertaking brokerage activities. According to the notice, the consultations will "likely" result in changes to the registration rules.

For more information, see CSA Staff Notice 31-327.

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Margaret Grottenthaler -

The Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Re Indalex released on April 7 is certainly the talk of the town in secured financing circles. Unless overturned, it will almost certainly have a significant negative impact on the availability of asset backed loans for entities with defined benefit pension plans given that it conferred priority over secured creditors (including the creditor subordinated to the rights of the super-priority DIP lender) for unfunded employer liabilities to the company’s defined benefit pension plans. As many appreciate, this liability is potentially a huge whack of dough for some companies. But does it have the same negative effect on credit support provided for derivatives transactions and other securities financing transactions, such as securities loans, repo and margin loans? I’m going to refer only to derivatives in this note, but similar comments apply to the collateral for securities financing arrangements. If you’re holding your breath, you can relax a bit because there are reasons why the decision is not likely to have the same impact on the typical collateral arrangement for derivatives transactions as it will have in the commercial finance context. It is problematic though with respect to cash collateral.

The Decision

If you haven’t yet read 20 law firm newsletters on this case, here’s a short description focusing on the aspects potentially relevant to derivatives markets and leaving out some of the details and my more colourful thoughts about the court’s analysis. You have to buy me lunch if you want those!

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As we discussed in our securities blog posts of February 25 and March 18, IIROC has requested comments on proposed amendments to the UMIR that would, among other things, repeal short sale price restrictions currently applicable on Canadian markets. The comment period for the proposed amendments is quickly drawing to a close and ends on May 26, 2011. IIROC's proposals would see the repeal of the tick test and introduce the requirement that all short sales be marked as such. However, orders from accounts meeting specific requirements (including certain arbitrage and institutional accounts) would qualify for a "short-marking exempt" designation.

Of particular interest in the notice are IIROC's comments regarding the disclosure of short sale activity. Specifically, in response to the IOSCO principle stating that short selling should be subject to a reporting regime that provides timely information to the market or market authorities, IIROC confirms that it recognizes the problems associated with current short position reporting. IIROC communicates its intention, therefore, to produce and publicly release, semi-monthly, short sale summaries based on aggregated trading data across all marketplaces regulated by IIROC for orders that are marked as short sales, to be implemented following the implementation of the proposed amendments. The nature and scope of this disclosure remains to be seen.

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P. Jason Kroft

It has long been a Kroft family tradition to spend a relatively significant amount of time discussing and documenting new year's resolutions (and it is also a long-standing tradition of discarding or ignoring the resolutions not long after January 2nd of each year). Each year at around this time I'll sit down to carefully draft my plans for the year in an attempt to chart out my year's goals, plans and objectives. The plans are, by design, ambitious, considered and comprehensive. As my final blog submission for the year, I thought I would share with our readers some of my own goals for next year in the hopes that they may entertain and potentially inspire.

In 2011, I would like to own a Bugatti sports car like Jay-Z, have one million Facebook friends and appear during an episode of HBO's 'Entourage'. I'd like to finally obtain that work/life balance that I've read about and find that the Loonie is well above par during my spring break trip to Miami. I'm hoping for sunny and dry summer months, peace and prosperity for my clients, contacts and friends and interesting and challenging work assignments. 

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Jonathan Willson and Roanne C. Bratz

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (or HIRE Act) has now come into effect in the United States and it will likely be relevant to Canadian participants in the OTC derivatives and securities lending areas. 

By way of background, the HIRE Act added a new U.S. withholding tax provision for certain equity-related swaps, sale-repurchase transactions and securities lending transactions. The HIRE Act applies to dividend equivalent payments made on or after September 14, 2010.  Dividend equivalent payments include payments that are contingent on, or determined by reference to, U.S.-source dividends in sale-repurchase and securities lending transactions, including certain equity swap transactions where a non-U.S. counterparty buys or sells the underlying U.S. security from or to its counterparty.  After March 18, 2012, cross-border dividend equivalent payments made under all equity swap transactions will be treated as U.S.-source dividend income, unless the U.S. Department of the Treasury issues regulations exempting any particular equity–related swap from its application.  As a result, any U.S. source dividend equivalent payment received or paid by Canadian parties, for example, generally will be subject to U.S. withholding tax even if there is no U.S. counterparty to the transaction.  The withholding tax is imposed on the “gross amount” of any dividend-equivalent payment used in computing any net amount paid to the non-U.S. counterparty in connection with the transaction.  The U.S. withholding tax generally will be imposed at a 30% rate, unless the applicable withholding rate is reduced under the terms of an income tax treaty and proper documentary evidence is timely provided to the appropriate counterparty.

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Nova Scotia's Securities Transfer Act, which gained Royal Assent back in May, has now been proclaimed into law. According to Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations Ramona Jennex, the legislation "brings greater legal certainties around the holding, transferring and pledging of securities."

By our count, that leaves PEI and the Yukon as the only Canadian jurisdictions left without any similar legislation. For links the legislation of the respective provinces and territories, see our Resources page.

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P. Jason Kroft and Sarah Horan

On June 25, 2010, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published for comment proposed amendments to National Instrument 81-102 Mutual Funds (NI 81-102) and related instruments, which set out the regulatory framework for mutual funds under Canadian securities legislation. Certain of the proposed amendments are relevant for derivatives and securities lending, the salient aspects of which are described below.

The proposed amendments seek to codify frequently granted exemptive relief from the requirements under NI 81-102, create additional operational requirements for money market funds and generally update the instrument to reflect changes in the Canadian marketplace and the evolution of regulatory approaches to mutual funds in other major markets. Included among the amendments are several changes relating to the use of short-selling and specified derivatives by mutual funds.

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