The securities regulatory authorities in Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have published a set of rules that will allow companies to raise money on the Internet in a novel manner.

Multilateral Instrument 45-108 Crowdfunding (MI 45-108) includes a crowdfunding prospectus exemption (i.e it exempts businesses from having to offer prospecti to equity investors under certain conditions) and a system of registration for funding portals - they have exempted nobody from having to register. They have also made consequential amendments to other rules. They expect these rules to be of most interest to the businesses themselves but as crowdfunding is popular with HNW investors of a certain bent, it is imporant for private banks and asset managers to know about these rule changes.

The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA) of Saskatchewan, which worked with the participating jurisdictions on the Rule, will be republishing MI 45-108 for a 60-day comment period. In some jurisdictions, ministerial approval is required and has not yet happened. If all goes well, MI 45-108 will come into force in the participating jurisdictions on 25 January 2016.