In September 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) released its long-awaited proposals to enhance corporate bond transparency. In my December 2015 Letter from the President, I discuss the existing CanPX transparency system and the flaws in the IIROC Market Trade Reporting System which was introduced on November 1, 2015, before sharing my thoughts on the optimal transparency approach.

Highlights:

*In striking a new direction for corporate bond transparency, the CSA needs to ensure it understands the full implications of its proposed model, and be convinced that the new approach reaches a better public interest objective.

*The IIROC debt surveillance system that underpins the new transparency model is unlikely to provide sufficient flexibility needed for an effective transparency system.

*The optimal approach would seem to be an amalgam of the proposed transparency approach based on the new IIROC Market Trade Reporting System and the CanPX transparency system.