NIN 98/18 - Rescission of Form 29: Finance Company Questionnaire and Financial Report [NIN - Rescinded]

Effective April 3, 1998, the Executive Director is rescinding Form 29 "Finance Company Questionnaire and Financial Report" ("Form 29") in accordance with section 182 of the Securities Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 418.

Section 150(2) of the Securities Rules, R.B.C. Reg. 194/97, requires a financial issuer, except where exempted under section 150(3) of the Securities Rules, to file, annually, on or before the 140th day after the end of its financial year, a report in the required form. Form 29 has been the form specified by the Executive Director under section 150(2) of the Securities Rules. Form 29 instructs that the "Finance Company Questionnaire and Financial Report" shall be Form 29 ("Ontario Form 29") required by the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC"), amended as necessary for the change of jurisdiction. A finance company, as defined under Regulation 1015 to the Securities Act (Ontario) ("Regulation 1015"), is the equivalent of a finance issuer, as defined under section 1(1) of the Securities Rules.

Form 29 is a detailed disclosure document that requires extensive discussion of a finance issuer’s operations. Form 29 is being rescinded because it is outdated and it duplicates existing disclosure requirements. Ontario Form 29 did not appear to have been amended since its inception in the 1960s. Many disclosures that Form 29 requires are adequately addressed by recent Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Handbook requirements. Effective December 18, 1997, the OSC rescinded Ontario Form 29. Commission staff share the view of OSC staff that the considerable effort and cost required to complete Form 29 are no longer justified.

The Executive Director is also publishing, concurrently with this Notice, BOR#98/4 that exempts a finance issuer from all of the requirements of section 150 of the Securities Rules, including the requirements under sections 150(1) and (8) of the Securities Rules. Section 150(1) required a finance issuer, not otherwise required to file interim and annual financial statements in accordance with sections 144 and 145 of the Securities Act, to file, in duplicate, the financial statements required under those sections as if those sections applied. Section 150(8) required that a finance issuer must, on the request of its debt security holder, send the holder a copy of its financial statements most recently filed under section 144 or 145 of the Securities Act or under section 150(1) of the Securities Rules.

Effective December 18, 1997, the OSC rescinded its comparable interim and annual financial statement requirements applicable to finance companies contained in section 12 of Regulation 1015. Commission staff also share the view of OSC staff that the financial statement requirements imposed on finance issuers that are additional to those imposed on other issuers are no longer justified.

Commission staff is recommending that section 150 of the Securities Rules be repealed in its entirety in due course.

DATED at Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 31, 1998

Michael J. Watson
Acting Executive Director

Ref: Form 29
BOR#98/4