The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced the implementation of changes to CIRO's recognition order effective July 4, 2026.
With this announcement, the AMF has created greater regulatory clarity and a single point-of-contact for mutual fund dealers and their representatives, which will ultimately serve to protect investors in Québec.
This page is intended to help Mutual Fund Dealers (MFDs) in Québec understand the transition of regulatory responsibilities to CIRO and respond to questions from their representatives about the transition of supervision to CIRO on July 4, 2026.
Representatives at dealers should contact their dealer with respect to any question on CE requirements, their credits, accreditation or system issues.
CIRO wants to support you, as a firm, by ensuring transparent communication. We also appreciate that you are likely receiving questions from your representatives about this transition. To the extent you have received inquiries, or will receive inquiries, Dealers are encouraged to communicate what the changes mean for their Mutual Fund Dealer representatives (MFDRs) directly with representatives as the impacts vary according to business model.
Nevertheless, we are mindful that Quebec MFDRs were accustomed to communicating directly with their self-regulatory organization, so we have prepared this material to help you respond to queries from your team.
We’ve taken key steps to ensure a smooth transition of regulatory responsibilities from the Chambre de l’assurance (Chambre) (formerly la Chambre de la sécurité financière or CSF) and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to CIRO through an exemplary tripartite collaboration with these regulators.
Further, to ensure direct communication with Dealers, we held a regular cadence of live information sessions on key topics pertinent to the transition—from Continuing Education (CE) and Fees to ComSet and Enforcement. Those webinar recordings are available to Chief Compliance Officer at our Dealers upon request to [email protected]. We have also prepared materials that you can download and share internally with your representatives and team.
CIRO Facts for Québec Mutual Fund Dealer Representatives
Background and Context
July 2026 marked a significant milestone for CIRO and for MFDs in Québec. Following regulatory transformations first announced as part of Bill 92 and then realized as Act 16, these changes aim to simplify the regulatory landscape by creating a single oversight body for MFDs and MFDRs. While these changes may have appeared to have come fast, they represented an important phase of the integration of the mutual fund sector in Québec which has been underway for three and a half years.
→ Read more about the history of this transition
This phase entailed the transfer s of mutual fund regulatory responsibilities from the Chambre to CIRO, creating a single regulatory point of contact for mutual fund oversight starting July 4, 2026. Since then, CIRO is responsible for regulating MFDRs with respect to the following:
- CE
- Complaints
- Enforcement (Investigations and Disciplinary Proceedings)
To reflect the transfer of responsibilities resulting from this phase, fees changes were implemented.
Recent information provided by the Autorité des marchés financier is available here. Recent information provided by the Chambre de l’assurance is available here.
More information about each of these topics as it pertains to representatives is outlined below.
As of July 4, 2026, CIRO assumed oversight of CE for MFDRs. This oversight includes monitoring compliance with CE requirements, processing of CE exemption requests, and recognition or accreditation of CE activities.
MFDs are responsible for ensuring that their representatives subject to CE requirements comply with the applicable requirements. MFDs should communicate the information below regarding requirements applicable to MFDRs to their representatives and support them with any questions they may have.
CIRO will maintain the current CE cycle ending November 30, 2027 and CE requirements for MFDRs that are equivalent to those that were in place at the Chambre, including the mandatory training activity developed and delivered by the Chambre and provided by it on the subject of compliance with standards, ethics and business conduct.
This CE cycle, MFDRs applicable framework remains the same in the following ways:
- Total requirement of 30 Professional Development Units (PDU)
- The allocation of units by subject area remains the same:
- 10 PDU in general subjects;
- 10 PDU in compliance standards, ethics or professional practice;
- In every two reference periods, the representative must obtain 3 PDU related to a training activity developed by the Chambre;
- 10 PDU in mutual fund-specific subjects
- The compulsory course in Compliance is maintained.
- One CE unit corresponds to one hour of training.
Administrative Provisions
Exemptions are made for the first year of initial registration as a MFDR and for an absence due to illness or accident, or for family or parental reasons.
At the end of the CE cycle, a notice is issued in the event of non-compliance after the end of the reference period. PDUs completed during the reference period but not previously reported must be submitted within 20 days of receiving the non-compliance notice.
To ensure a smooth operational transition with minimal disruption to MFDs and MFDRs, CIRO has worked closely with the Chambre to continue to use its CE platform through this cycle for reporting requirements, access to information, and the training recognition framework.
As of July 4, 2026, CIRO is responsible for assessing and recognizing CE activities intended for MFDRs. To reduce the impacts on applicants, CIRO is working with the Chambre to continue to use its CE platform for the listing of accredited CIRO CE courses.
Applications for these CE activities need to be submitted through CIRO’s existing accreditation process. Where applicable, CIRO lists approved activities on the Chambre’s CE platform.
Furthermore, to facilitate the administration of CE requirements, CIRO and the Chambre agreed to mutually accepting CE activities recognized or accredited by either party, starting July 4, 2026, and listed on the Chambre platform, for the reference period ending November 30, 2027.
For questions about the accreditation process, MFDs and course providers can contact [email protected].
More information will be available soon.
Since July 4, 2026, MFDs in Québec report complaints and other events required under CIRO rules, specifically MFD Rules 2.11 and Rule 600 using the Complaints and Settlement Reporting System (ComSet).
To access ComSet, a User’s Manual for CIRO Services was provided to CCOs to assist with this initial step. Once in the CIRO Services platform, CCOs are able to add administrative users to ComSet so that compliance and complaints team members at the dealer could familiarize themselves with the platform. which is utilized for
To assist with this transition, a live webinar on ComSet was held on May 25, 2026, and User Manuals for ComSet were circulated to CCOs shortly thereafter. A second webinar, that covered ComSet In-Depth and included a presentation by the AMF respecting its requirements was held on July 13, 2026. These materials and recordings of the webinars are available upon request.
As of July 4, 2026, Enforcement activities relating to the conduct of MFDRs previously performed by the Chambre were transferred to CIRO. Since that date, CIRO is:
- Continuing the Chambre’s investigations concerning MFDRs, in accordance with CIRO MFD Examinations and Investigations Rules (MFD Rule 6)
- undertaking investigations concerning MFDRs, in accordance with CIRO MFD Examinations and Investigations Rules, whether or not they relate to events prior to July 4, 2026
- hearing disciplinary matters concerning MFDRs, in accordance with CIRO MFD Discipline and Procedures Rules, whether or not they relate to events prior to July 4, 2026
CIRO operates on a cost recovery basis with the underlying principled objective of equity among dealer members.
With this transfer of functions and powers, and to ensure that fees are proportionate to the services provided, CIRO withdrawn, effective July 1, 2026, the transitional measures related to the fee model that had been in effect for Québec MFDs since January 1, 2023.
CIRO published a Housekeeping Amendment to the Fee Model that clarifies the financial aspects of how the transition would be managed and the Annual Fee letter providing additional information in this regard was sent to Dealers in early April.
CIRO no longer collects its main activity-based registration-related submission fees through the National Registration Database (CIRO NRD fees) for MFD Members operating in Québec, since July 1, 2026.
The new responsibilities are registration for MFDs and MFDRs, MFDs examinations, and oversight of MFD representatives including CE and enforcement.
There are various components that inform our fee model, based on the business models and sizes of our dealer members. The Approved Person component, ($300 per AP), the Revenue component (revenue rate for the year X revenue (previous calendar year), the Minimum Fee *$5,000 - $15,000 based on member level and prorated for approval quarter. MFDs with greater than $1 billion in assets under administration may be subject to normalization to account for transfer pricing arrangements.
Since July 1st, 2026, the fee calculation reflects the full range of regulatory services provided, and has been offset by the removal of CIRO’s main activity-based registration-related submission fees collected through NRD.
These amendments ensured CIRO continues to operate on a cost-recovery basis, in compliance with its Recognition Orders and Guiding Principles.