Saskatchewan Regulations 66/2025, enacted under The Securities Act, 1988, introduce significant amendments to the province’s adoption of National Instrument 31-103, which governs registration requirements, exemptions, and ongoing obligations for registrants in the securities industry. The amendments are focused on improving the transparency in the reporting of investment fund expenses and charges. These changes are designed to provide investors with clearer, more standardized information about the costs associated with their investments in mutual funds and other investment funds.

The amendments begin with updates to key definitions, adding new terms that establish the framework for reporting expenses. These include “direct investment fund charge,” which refers to amounts charged directly to clients for buying, holding, selling, or switching fund securities, excluding those already accounted for in the fund’s operating expenses. Additional definitions clarify concepts such as “fund expense ratio,” “management expense ratio,” “trading expense ratio,” and “newly-established investment fund.” These definitions ensure consistency across reporting practices and align Saskatchewan’s securities regulations with broader national standards for disclosure.

The regulations impose new obligations on investment fund managers to provide accurate and timely information to registered dealers and advisers whose clients hold fund securities. Specifically, managers must supply details that enable dealers and advisers to meet their reporting obligations, including the calculation of fund expenses per security. A prescribed formula is introduced for this purpose: the fund expense ratio for the day multiplied by the market value of the security equals the fund expenses per security in dollar terms. While fund managers may use reasonable approximations of inputs if precise data would result in misleading reporting, the rules create a structured methodology that promotes comparability and transparency. For newly-established funds, some reporting requirements are relaxed, recognizing the difficulty of providing full expense data before sufficient operating history is available.

One of the most significant amendments is to section 14.17, which expands the list of information that registered firms must disclose in client reports. Firms must now report the total fund expenses charged to the fund, direct charges applied to the client, and the combined total of these costs. They must also disclose the fund expense ratio of each fund held by the client, along with explanatory notifications. These standard notifications explain the nature of fund expenses, their impact on long-term returns, and how clients can use this information to evaluate their portfolios. For example, clients will be reminded that fund expenses, including management fees, trading costs, and other charges, reduce investment returns over time and that understanding these expenses can inform decisions about cost reduction strategies.

Saskatchewan (66/2025) August 20, 2025
Disclaimer: Insights are for informational purposes only and do not reflect RRI’s official position or constitute legal opinion.