OSC announces education and outreach activities for World Investor Week and Investor Education Month

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced its suite of education and outreach activities to help people make informed financial decisions as part of October’s Investor Education Month.

Investor Education Month is an initiative of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories. World Investor Week also takes place from October 3 to 9 and is promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

“With so many uncertainties in the world today, it’s more important than ever for investors to have reliable resources to help them 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. “Our educational resources such as GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca and GetSmarterAboutCrypto.ca help provide investors with the information they need to make informed decisions.”

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

• Crypto education: To help investors make informed investment decisions about crypto assets the OSC launched the GetSmarterAboutCrypto.ca website and a new video about this online resource.
• Twitter chat: The OSC will host a Twitter chat about investing and protecting yourself in uncertain times on October 4 at 1 p.m. Special guests will include law enforcement, regulatory partners and community and industry organizations. Follow the conversation on the OSC’s investor Twitter handle, @smarter_money, and use the hashtag #SmartInvestor.
• Telephone Townhall: Ontarians are invited to join a virtual townhall on October 13 for a discussion on investing basics and avoiding fraud. Participants can join online or by phone. OSC staff will host discussions, share important information and answer questions. Visit the OSC’s website to register.  
• OSC in the Community events: Attend one of our virtual or in-person OSC in the Community events 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.
• Environmental, social and governance (ESG) resources: An area of focus for World Investor Week is sustainable finance, including ESG investing. Recently, the OSC added a new ESG hub. It helps investors better understand sustainable investing with definitions of common ESG terms and considerations for people thinking about ESG investing.
• Video resources: With inflation top of mind for investors, we have created educational videos about the impact of inflation on investing and on savings. In addition, to expand our financial literacy series, three new videos are now available including Stocks 101, Bonds 101 and ETFs 101.
• Investor News: The OSC’s popular e-newsletter, Investor News, will include a new investor education article on how a recession could impact your savings and investments. Investor News helps Ontarians stay informed with topical articles, educational resources and investor alerts.

Investors are also encouraged to visit GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca for more resources, including information on retirement planning, working with an advisor, avoiding fraud and more.

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 https://www.osc.ca.

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