made public ahead of Friday’s hearing, the OSC accused the two “sophisticated” subsidiaries of failing to obtain permission or exemption to operate a marketplace in the province, as required by law.
The trading on the platforms involved institutional investors and took place in 2017 and 2018, both before and after the Bloomberg firms were granted interim exemption orders with conditions attached, according to the statement of allegations. As part of the settlement, the two subsidiaries admitted that before they sought or obtained recognition or an exemption order from the OSC, they carried on business as exchanges by providing institutional Ontario users with access to trade fixed income securities and swaps.
After one of the firms obtained an exemption order, it failed to prevent fixed income trading on its trading facility, which was contrary to the order’s terms and conditions, and failed to disclose this activity in quarterly reports to staff of the OSC.