Mandate

The CMI undertakes and sponsors policy research and analysis to develop a comprehensive capital markets strategy for Canada.

The increasing global mobility of capital, resulting from investors and issuers looking beyond national borders and the removal of barriers to international investment, requires Canada to actively design a capital markets strategy or risk allowing external forces to define for it a diminished and dependant role in the global capital markets.

The CMI seeks to lead the effort in determining how capital markets mechanisms and institutions should be designed in order to create a superior environment for investors and issuers in a small, open market like Canada.

Leadership 

CMI research develops a clear understanding of the challenges facing the Canadian capital markets, and the institutional tools that Canada must develop in order to convert those challenges into opportunities to be a leader among the world’s small, open capital markets.

Our analysis includes identifying those areas in which Canada should not seek to compete with larger markets, in order to maintain its strategic focus on those areas where it has or can develop a competitive advantage as well as areas where it must raise its performance to compete effectively.

Rigour 

The CMI draws on leading Canadian and international academics and other experts to maintain high standards of analytical rigour commensurate with its affiliation with the University of Toronto.

The CMI and the research it sponsors focuses exclusively on issues affecting Canadian capital markets and associated broader public policy issues as they affect capital markets and capital markets stakeholders. This specialization allows the CMI and its researchers to deliver research results and policy recommendations that are distinguished by their high quality, independence and comprehensiveness.

Relevance 

CMI research is topical and timely.

Its production by leading experts on a demand-driven schedule guarantees that it assists policymakers in dealing with issues that are of current interest to capital markets participants.

The CMI ensures broad participation by other academics, market participants, regulators and legislators in the design, execution and presentation of its research programs through roundtable discussions, informal meetings, presentations of works in progress, articles published in both academic and practitioner journals and joint industry-academic conferences.

We identify research topics through informal ongoing consultations with legislators, regulators, investors, issuers and intermediaries, as well as through monitoring domestic and international trends and developments affecting capital markets. In each case, we only pursue issues that can play a role in defining a comprehensive capital markets strategy for Canada, even if this means forgoing work on more high-profile but ephemeral topics.

Independence 

The CMI’s perspective and policy recommendations are independent of any established interests or preconceived results. Because we sponsor research by leading Canadian and international academics and other experts, their individual reputations for impartiality, independence and intellectual honesty form the cornerstone of the CMI’s own reputation among capital markets policymakers and stakeholders.

Independence does not equal irrelevance. The many ways in which we involve capital markets participants in the research process ensure that CMI research is informed by the most current market knowledge, trends and influences.

Who We Are 

The CMI was established in 1998 through a donation from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the University of Toronto.  

The CMI has a Management Board and an Advisory Board.  The former is primarily academic based; the latter includes industry leaders in Canada's capital markets.  University of Toronto faculty members with professional and research interests in common with the CMI's objectives are affiliated with the CMI and support its work.