Securities regulators, including the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), have been strongly vocal about the need for good corporate governance. But good governance is also important for securities regulators to ensure resources are directed towards socially desirable objectives, and used efficiently.

The focus of this study is a comparison of the OSC's governance structure with that of regulators in other countries responsible for securities regulation. The comparison countries are Australia, the US, the UK, and Hong Kong. The intent of the comparisons is to flush out best practices in governance for a modern securities regulator that could possibly be adopted by the OSC.