OSC temporarily suspends short selling of issuers such as Fairfax, Kingsway and Manulife

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued an amended order under Section 144 of the Securities Act that temporarily prohibits short selling of certain financial sector issuers.
This follows an order prohibiting short selling of securities of certain financial sector issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and inter-listed in the United States (with the exception of one issuer whose shares are exchangeable), according to an OSC release.
The amended order will be in effect until Oct. 3, 2008, unless extended by order of the commission.
The original order was issued as a precautionary matter with respect to short selling of the securities of financial sector issuers. It was subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) short selling order dated Sept. 18, 2008, and issued to ensure the markets are not used for purposes of regulatory arbitrage, the OSC noted in the release.
The issuers affected by the original and amended orders are: Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Investment Company Ltd., Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Kingsway Financial Services Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation, Quest Capital Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc., The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Canada Ltd.