Investor Protection at a Crossroads - Public and Private Securites Enforcement in Action

This paper compares the efficacy of public securities regulatory enforcement with private securities class actions to assess which approach leads to better outcome for retail investors and the concept of investor protection. This paper uses a Canadian dataset on private securities and compares to available public enforcement data. The paper also explores the role of internal compliance mechanisms within public companies and profesisonal intermediaires (such as law firms and banks) to compare and assess the role that such internal controls play in achieving compliance with capital markets regulation and norms.