Guardian Capital LP

National Policy 11-203 Process for Exemptive Relief Applications in Multiple Jurisdictions – relief from certain specified derivatives and custodian requirements to permit mutual funds to enter into swap transactions that are cleared through a clearing corporation, whether or not such derivatives are subject to U.S. and European regulatory requirements. Decision treats cleared swaps similar to other cleared derivatives.

Applicable Legislative Provisions

National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds, ss. 2.7(1), 2.7(4), 6.1, 19.1.

September 11, 2017

IN THE MATTER OF
THE SECURITIES LEGISLATION OF
ONTARIO
(the Jurisdiction)

AND

IN THE MATTER OF
THE PROCESS FOR EXEMPTIVE RELIEF APPLICATIONS
IN MULTIPLE JURISDICTIONS

AND

IN THE MATTER OF
GUARDIAN CAPITAL LP
(the Filer)

DECISION

Background

The principal regulator in the Jurisdiction has received an application from the Filer for a decision under the securities legislation of the Jurisdiction of the principal regulator (the Legislation), pursuant to section 19.1 of National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds (NI 81-102), exempting the mutual funds listed in Schedule A (each, an Existing Fund and, collectively, the Existing Funds) and all future mutual funds managed by the Filer that enter into Cleared Swaps (as defined below) in the future (each, a Future Fund and, together with the Existing Funds, each, a Fund and, collectively, the Funds):

(i)            from the requirement in subsection 2.7(1) of NI 81-102 that a mutual fund must not purchase an option or a debt-like security or enter into a swap or a forward contract unless, at the time of the transaction, the option, debt-like security, swap or contract has a designated rating or the equivalent debt of the counterparty, or of a person or company that has fully and unconditionally guaranteed the obligations of the counterparty in respect of the option, debt-like security, swap or contract, has a designated rating;

(ii)           from the limitation in subsection 2.7(4) of NI 81-102 that the mark-to-market value of the exposure of a mutual fund under its specified derivatives positions with any one counterparty other than an acceptable clearing corporation or a clearing corporation that clears and settles transactions made on a futures exchange listed in Appendix A to NI 81-102 shall not exceed, for a period of 30 days or more, 10 percent of the net asset value of the mutual fund; and

(iii)          from the requirement in subsection 6.1(1) of NI 81-102 to hold all portfolio assets of an investment fund under the custodianship of one custodian in order to permit each Fund to deposit cash and other portfolio assets directly with a Futures Commission Merchant (as defined below) and indirectly with a Clearing Corporation (as defined below) as margin,

in each case, with respect to Cleared Swaps (the Requested Relief).

Under the Process for Exemptive Relief Applications in Multiple Jurisdictions (for a passport application):

(a)           the Ontario Securities Commission is the principal regulator for this application; and

(b)           the Filer has provided notice that subsection 4.7(1) of Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System (MI 11-102) is intended to be relied upon in each of the other provinces and territories of Canada (the Other Jurisdictions and collectively with Ontario, the Jurisdictions).

Interpretation

Terms defined in NI 81-102, National Instrument 14-101 Definitions, and MI 11-102 have the same meaning if used in this decision, unless otherwise defined. Capitalized terms used in this decision have the following meanings:

Advisors means each of the Filer, GuardCap Asset Management Limited, Guardian Capital Advisors LP, and each third party portfolio manager retained from time to time by the Filer to manage the investment portfolio of one or more Funds

CFTC means the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Cleared Swap means any OTC derivative transaction that can be entered into on a cleared basis, whether or not such derivative is subject to a clearing determination or a clearing obligation issued by the CFTC or ESMA, as the case may be

Clearing Corporation means any clearing organization registered with the CFTC or central counterparty authorized by ESMA, as the case may be, that, in either case, is also recognized or exempt from recognition in Ontario

Dodd-Frank Act means the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

EMIR means the European Market Infrastructure Regulation

ESMA means the European Securities and Markets Authority

European Economic Area means all of the European Union countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway

Futures Commission Merchant means any futures commission merchant that is registered with the CFTC and/or clearing member for purposes of EMIR, as applicable, and is a member of a Clearing Corporation

LSOC Model means the legally segregated operationally commingled model adopted by the CFTC for Cleared Swaps collateral

OTC means over-the-counter

U.S. Person has the meaning attributed thereto by the CFTC

Representations

This decision is based on the following facts represented by the Filer:

The Filer and the Funds

1.             The Filer is, or will be, the investment fund manager of each Fund. The Filer is registered as an investment fund manager in Ontario, Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador, as an adviser in the category of portfolio manager and as a dealer in the category of exempt market dealer in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Québec and Saskatchewan, and as adviser in the category of commodity trading counsel and commodity trading manager in Ontario. The head office of the Filer is in Toronto, Ontario.

2.             The Filer is, or will be, the portfolio manager to the Funds. One of the Advisors, other than the Filer, may act as sub-advisor to the portfolio manager with respect to a Fund.

3.             Each Fund is, or will be, a mutual fund created under the laws of a Jurisdiction and is, or will be, subject to the provisions of NI 81-102.

4.             Neither the Filer nor the Existing Funds are in default of securities legislation in any Jurisdiction.

5.             The securities of each Fund are, or will be, qualified for distribution pursuant to a prospectus that was, or will be, prepared and filed in accordance with the securities legislation of the Jurisdictions. Accordingly, each Fund is, or will be, a reporting issuer.

Cleared Swaps

6.             The investment objective and investment strategies of each Fund permit, or will permit, the Fund to enter into derivative transactions, including Cleared Swaps. The Filer considers Cleared Swaps to be an important investment tool that is available to it to properly manage a Fund’s portfolio.

7.             The Dodd-Frank Act requires that certain OTC derivatives be cleared through a Futures Commission Merchant at a Clearing Corporation.

8.             EMIR also requires that certain OTC derivatives be cleared through a central counterparty authorized to provide clearing services for purposes of EMIR. Generally, where one party to a swap is a financial counterparty or a non-financial counterparty whose OTC derivative trading activity exceeds a certain threshold, in each case established in a state that is a participant in the European Economic Area, that swap will be required to be cleared.

9.             In addition to clearing swaps that are mandated to be cleared under the Dodd-Frank Act and/or EMIR, many of the Clearing Corporations offer clearing services in respect of other types of derivative transactions. Many global derivative end-users enter into Cleared Swaps on both a voluntary and a mandatory basis.

10.          In order to benefit from both the pricing benefits and reduced trading costs that an Advisor is often able to achieve through its trade execution practices for its managed investment funds and accounts and from the reduced costs associated with Cleared Swaps as compared to other OTC trades, the Filer wishes that the Funds have the ability to enter into Cleared Swaps.

11.          In the absence of the Requested Relief, an Advisor will need to structure the derivative transactions entered into by the applicable Funds so as to avoid clearing, including the clearing requirements of the CFTC and under EMIR, as applicable. The Filer respectfully submits that this would not be in the best interests of the Funds and their investors for a number of reasons, as set out below.

12.          The Filer strongly believes that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their investors to continue to be able to execute OTC derivatives with global counterparties, including U.S. and European swap dealers.

13.          An Advisor may use common trade execution practices for all of its accounts, including the Funds. If these practices involve the use of Cleared Swaps and if the Funds are unable to employ these trade execution practices, then the Advisor would have to create separate trade execution practices only for the Funds and would have to execute trade for the Funds on a separate basis. This would increase the operational risk for the Funds and would prevent the Funds from benefitting from the pricing benefits and reduced trading costs that an Advisor may be able to achieve through common practices for its advised accounts. In the Filer’s opinion, best execution and maximum certainty can best be achieved through common trade execution practices, which, in the case of OTC derivatives, involve the execution of Cleared Swaps.

14.          In its role as a fiduciary for the Funds, the Filer has determined that central clearing represents a good choice for the investors in the Funds to mitigate the legal, operational and back office risks faced by investors in the global swap markets.

15.          As a member of the G20 and a participant in the September 2009 commitment of G20 nations to improve transparency and mitigate risk in derivatives markets, Canada has expressly recognized the systemic benefits that clearing OTC derivatives offers to market participants, such as the Funds. The Filer respectfully submits that the Funds should be encouraged to comply with the robust clearing requirements established by the CFTC and under EMIR by granting them the Requested Relief.

16.          The Requested Relief is analogous to the treatment currently afforded under NI 81-102 to other types of derivatives that are cleared, i.e., clearing corporation options, options on futures and standardized futures. This demonstrates that, from a policy perspective, such Requested Relief is consistent with the views of the Canadian securities authorities in respect of cleared derivative trades.

17.          For the reasons provided above, the Filer submits that it would not be prejudicial to the public interest to grant the Requested Relief to the Funds.

Decision

The principal regulator is satisfied that the decision meets the test set out in the Legislation for the principal regulator to make the decision.

The decision of the principal regulator under the Legislation is that the Requested Relief is granted provided that when any rules applicable to customer clearing of OTC derivatives enter into force, the Clearing Corporation is permitted to offer customer clearing of OTC derivatives in the Jurisdiction where the applicable Fund is located and provided further that, in respect of the deposit of cash and other portfolio assets as margin:

(a)           in Canada,

(i)            the Futures Commission Merchant is a member of a SRO that is a participating member of CIPF; and

(ii)           the amount of margin deposited and maintained with the Futures Commission Merchant does not, when aggregated with the amount of margin already held by the Futures Commission Merchant, exceed 10 percent of the net asset value of the Fund as at the time of deposit; and

(b)           outside of Canada,

(i)            the Futures Commission Merchant is a member of a Clearing Corporation and, as a result, is subject to a regulatory audit;

(ii)           the Futures Commission Merchant has a net worth, determined from its most recent audited financial statements that have been made public or from other publicly available financial information, in excess of the equivalent of $50 million; and

(iii)          the amount of margin deposited and maintained with the Futures Commission Merchant does not, when aggregated with the amount of margin already held by the Futures Commission Merchant, exceed 10 percent of the net asset value of the Fund as at the time of deposit.

This decision will terminate on the coming into force of any revisions to the provisions of NI 81-102 that address the clearing of OTC derivatives.

“Vera Nunes”
Manager, Investment Funds and Structured Products

SCHEDULE A

EXISTING FUNDS

Guardian Balanced Fund
Guardian Balanced Income Fund
Guardian Canadian Bond Fund
Guardian Canadian Equity Fund
Guardian Canadian Equity Select Fund
Guardian Canadian Focused Equity Fund
Guardian Canadian Growth Equity Fund
Guardian Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity Fund
Guardian Emerging Markets Equity Fund
Guardian Equity Income Fund
Guardian Fixed Income Select Fund
Guardian Fundamental Global Equity Fund
Guardian Global Dividend Growth Fund
Guardian Global Equity Fund
Guardian Growth & Income Fund
Guardian High Yield Bond Fund
Guardian International Equity Fund
Guardian International Equity Select Fund
Guardian Managed Income & Growth Portfolio
Guardian Managed Income Portfolio
Guardian Private Wealth Equity Fund
Guardian Short Duration Bond Fund
Guardian U.S. Equity Fund
Guardian U.S. Equity Select Fund