OSC advances education and outreach during Investor Education Month

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced activities to help people make more informed financial decisions as part of Investor Education Month and World Investor Week.

October is Investor Education Month in Canada, an initiative of Canadian securities regulators.  World Investor Week also takes place this month from October 2 to 8, 2023.

World Investor Week is a global campaign led by the International Organization of Securities Commissions to raise awareness about the importance of investor education. This year’s World Investor Week campaign will focus on three main themes: investor resilience, crypto assets, and sustainable finance. The OSC and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) are co-coordinators of Canada’s World Investor Week campaign.

The OSC recently relaunched its popular education website — GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca — a helpful resource to complement Investor Education Month activities. With new artificial intelligence tools, the latest accessibility features, and significant design innovations, GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca will continue to be a best-in-class financial education website in Canada.

“The new GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca reflects the OSC’s ongoing commitment to investor education by providing people with easy-to-use resources to plan and protect their financial well-being,” said Tyler Fleming, Director of the OSC’s Investor Office and a Canadian national co-ordinator for World Investor Week. “Investor Education Month is a good time to visit the new site that uses cutting-edge technology and behavioural science to help people turn newfound knowledge and intention into action.”

The OSC’s Investor Education Month and World Investor Week activities and resources include:

• Fraud chat: Follow the OSC’s one-hour fraud chat, October 5 at 1 p.m., on Twitter with participants from law enforcement, regulatory partners and community and industry organizations. Follow the conversation on @smarter_money and use the hashtag #Fraudchat.
• Telephone Townhall:  Join a virtual townhall, October 5 at 7 p.m., for a discussion on investing basics and avoiding fraud. You can join online or by phone. OSC staff will share important information and answer your questions. Register today.  
• OSC in the Community: Attend a virtual or in-person OSC in the Community event throughout October. The outreach program takes the OSC’s regulatory mandate from Bay Street to Main Street and gives audience members information on protecting their money.
• Investor resilience: Ever wonder what may be influencing your financial decision making? Visit our new resources on the psychology of investing.
• Social media, technology and your investments: Take a look at our new videos about finfluencers and also learn more about AI voice clone scams. Follow the OSC’s investor social media channels for more investor resources and warnings.
• Crypto education: Watch our new video to spot and stop crypto scams and learn more about crypto assets at GetSmarterAboutCrypto.ca.
• Sustainable finance: Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is on a lot of people’s minds. But what does it mean? Watch our new video to learn more.
• Investor News: Subscribe to the OSC’s popular e-newsletter, Investor News. It helps Ontarians stay informed with topical articles, educational resources, tools, videos and investor alerts.

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair, efficient and competitive capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, to foster capital formation, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at http://www.osc.ca.

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