How U.S. Financial Institutions Optimize Business Processes

This week, CSA members accepted pre-registration commitments from two firms, one of which is a big global firm, to assist ensure that core investor protections are in place while the firms complete the registration process with us. All unregistered corporations operating in Canada will be required to make these undertakings while their applications are being reviewed.The authors mistakenly blame the disparities in strategy among CSA jurisdictions on the lack of a two-way passport with Ontario. That is false. There is never and has never been a two-way passport between CSA jurisdictions for the registration of limited dealers, such as crypto asset trading platforms, whose creative enterprises necessitate unique terms and conditions. All jurisdictions weigh in so that we can benefit from the finest ideas before implementing new business models in the Canadian marketplace. It can be difficult for authorities and businesses to work together, but it respects Canadian federalism. In this context, a two-way passport is a red herring, and the authors' arguments demonstrate a fundamental ignorance of how our regulatory environment works.Securities regulators' goal is not to pick economic winners and losers, but rather to foster an enabling and competitive environment in which investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs can confidently engage.We will continue to prioritize investor education to provide investors with the necessary information of this sector so that they can better grasp the potential hazards.

The Canadian securities regulatory approach 

to crypto assets has been principled, pragmatic, and calibrated, with the goal of protecting investors and ensuring a level playing field that promotes competition and innovation in the cryptocurrency market.Before COVID-19, my family took an annual August vacation in rural Wales to see my in-laws who live in the United Kingdom. I'm back for the first time since 2019, and the reunion and re-access to the wine cellar at Cefnperfedd Uchaf has made me reflect about a wine I've grown to love here, and the delights of revisiting it year after year, year after vintage.My first visit to Maesmynis was in the mid-1990s, before I had a family of my own, and I was with an interesting girlfriend who thought I should see where she spent her summers as a child. (My wife was born in England to Canadian expat parents and came to Canada with her mother as a child after her parents divorced.) What was once a weekend and summer home in Wales is now the permanent residence of my father-in-law and his wife Nancy (another Canadian expat). The home and its surrounding barns are now an operating lavender farm, a cosmetics business, an agriturismo, a shop, and a tourist destination.

I was immediately struck by the beauty 

of mid-Wales' verdant valleys and hills in the shadow of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains. The routine for us in Wales hasn't changed much in the last quarter-century or so, and I was delighted to get right back into it after the pandemic respite. Days are spent wandering across sheep-filled fields and searching for panoramic views of the high moorlands. Evenings are spent preparing meals using locally sourced ingredients, supplemented with whatever looks good from the garden, and raiding the wine cellar.Bill, my father-in-law, obtained his doctorate and then taught at Oxford. (One of his students was Boris Johnson.) He became interested in wine while there and joined his college's wine committee as soon as he could. The Oxbridge wine heritage, as I understand it, is deeply anchored in Claret, which the English still refer to in some contexts. In any case, red Bordeaux was the flavor of the day in the 1970s, yet the only wine on the list that a young professor could purchase was Château Cissac, a Cru Bourgeois from the Haut-Médoc.2 So his first purchase was a case from 1970, and he hasn't looked back since.The English wine critic, author, encyclopedist, and broadcaster Jancis Robinson defines Cru Bourgeois as "a category of red wine properties, or crus, designated bourgeois, or a social stratum below the supposedly aristocratic crus classés." The notion is that those of us who have to work for a living should be able to drink well-made wines that are not too expensive yet outperform the reds on grocery shelves. Recent vintages of Cissac, when they arrive in Canada, typically sell for $30-$35 per bottle.

Bordeaux produces more wine than all 

other French regions combined, so while the few hundred Cru Bourgeois producers may be on the lower end of the classification scale, they are still at the top of the quality pyramid.Cissac is, in my humble and completely prejudiced opinion, one of the best Cru Bourgeois. In 2003, Robert Parker complimented the Vialard family for their success dating back to the late 1800s. In Bordeaux: A Consumer's Guide to the World's Finest Wines (4th Edition), he declares unequivocally that "their beloved Château Cissac produces one of the best Bourgeois wines of the central Médoc." Parker adds that [Cissac] appears to have a developing following among American enthusiasts who are willing to wait for its slow (for a Cru Bourgeois) but steady growth."Parker focuses on Cissac's ageability. Because I married well, I've had intermittent access to a rolling vertical library of Chateau Cissac for nearly 50 years. In addition to purchasing each vintage of the wine "en première" when it is first produced, Bill also buys wine at auction, so I have had the pleasure of tasting Cissac from fabled vintages such as 1961.3.Cissac had an excellent year in 1995 and 1996, and I believe Bill stored up on both since there was a period of several years when he served them both at the same time. The '96 hare was the fan favorite at first, but the tortoise of '95 opened up and won the race.Bill will not open a Cissac that is more than ten years old, and we don't have it every night; it's still a pleasure. On this year's trip, we sampled the 2008 in bottle and the 2009 magnum. Both are unmistakably Cissac, with left bank Cabernet Sauvignon notes of black current and a cedar finish. In this sense, it's a delight to reconnect with an old wine friend.