OSC announces activities for Financial Literacy Month 2018

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced activities for Financial Literacy Month in November. The OSC will connect with people across Ontario in-person, online, over the phone and on social media through Financial Literacy Month education and outreach activities.

“Through our education and outreach activities we’re strengthening financial literacy and security for millions of people by helping them make smarter decisions with their money,” said Tyler Fleming, Director of the Investor Office at the Ontario Securities Commission. “This is important for both the economy and people’s financial futures.”

Planned activities include:

GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca: The OSC will be publishing new tools and resources on its award-winning consumer website GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, including educational information on the cryptoasset sector and for new Canadians and multilingual audiences.

Telephone Townhall: Ontarians are invited to register for a free telephone townhall on November 14, 2018. Telephone townhalls are a way for the OSC to connect with Ontarians across the province in the comfort of their own home. The OSC will be joined by special guests from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA), and the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI).

OSC in the Community Seminars: Ontarians are invited to attend community seminars on preventing fraud and making informed financial decisions, taking place in Markham, Scarborough, North York, Brampton and Fonthill. OSC in the Community is an outreach program that takes the OSC’s regulatory mandate from Bay Street to Main Street.

Social Media: People are encouraged to follow @GetSmarterAboutMoney on Facebook or @smarter_money on Twitter for helpful financial tips and information. Social posts during the month will focus on the following weekly themes: protecting against fraud, investing basics, planning for retirement, getting an education and when you are new to Canada.

Other activities include several publications of our popular Investor News newsletter, participation in several Twitter chats, presenting on OSC research at the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC’s) National Research Symposium on November 27 and expansion of initiatives such as our digital, embeddable Fact Cards, which many stakeholders have been helping to distribute.

Additional information on the full scope of Investor Office activities can be found at InvestorOffice.ca.

The OSC’s consumer website GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca is one of Canada’s most visited financial literacy websites. It, along with other investor resources such as our question and answer website Re: Investing, will have approximately 4.6 million visits in the 12 months to October 31. Traffic to investor and consumer educational resources is currently growing at double-digit annual rates.

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, 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 www.osc.ca

 

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