Peter Bell Working Papers

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Published November 26, 2025 | Version v4
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Statistical Analysis of Failure to file cease trade orders from the BCSC 2019-2025

Authors/Creators

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Description


This article focuses on “failure to file” cease trade orders issued by the British Columbia Securities Commission, presenting exploratory data analysis to show how often they occur and how long they last. I describe methods for analyzing the SEDAR database (2025), present basic statistical results, and provide a theoretical framework for understanding the significance of failure to file a cease trade order (FFCTO). The article uses public data to analyze questions such as how the number of FFCTOs varies over time. FFCTO are essential to the BC government's policy to incentivize companies to meet their continuous disclosure requirements. There are no government costs or penalties, but an FFCTO can affect the company's reputation in the capital markets. This article focuses on FFCTOs that companies resolved after making the necessary filings, albeit with some delay. How long is the typical delay? The duration is a significant variable because shareholders' investments constitute stranded capital when the company is subject to a cease trade order. 

Abstract (English)


Keywords: Capital Markets, Law, Halt, Cease Trade Order, Stranded Capital, Government Policy, Failure Rates 
JEL Codes: 


A1 - General Economics
B4 - Economic Methodology 
B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs 
C81 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access (154)
D2 - Production and Organizations
D22 - Firm B Behaviour Empirical Analysis (223)
D6 - Welfare Economics 
D62 - Externalities 
D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty 
D82 - Asymmetric and Private Information ; Mechanism Design 
E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles (2889)
E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles
F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization 
F64 - Environment 
G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance
H1 - Structure and Scope of Government
H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue 
H23 - Externalities ; Redistributive Effects ; Environmental
 Taxes and Subsidies Policies 
H57 - Procurement 
H8 - Miscellaneous Issues (352)
H82 - Governmental Property
K2 - Regulation and Business Law
K22 - Business and Securities Law 
K23 - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law 
K4 - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behaviour 
L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy
L7 - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction
O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ;
 Environment Other Primary Products 
O2 - Development Planning and Policy
P11 - Planning, Coordination, and Reform
P16 - Political Economy
Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
Q32 - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
Q33 - Resource Booms 

 


References  


SEDAR, (November 26, 2025). https://www.sedarplus.ca/csa-order/

Canadian Securities Administrators, (August 23, 2012), “CSA Staff Notice 11-318: Guidance for Cease Trade Order Database User,” https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/-/media/PWS/Resources/Securities_Law/Policies/Policy1/11318_CSA_Staff_Notice_Aug2312.pdf 

Files

2025-11-26-Descriptive Statistics for inactive FFCTO in BC 2018-2025.pdf

Files (393.1 kB)

Additional details

Additional titles

Alternative title
Disclosure Enforcement as Market Governance: Reconstructing Illiquidity and Exclusion in Public Equity Markets
Alternative title
Methods to Estimate the Total Number of Reporting Issuers in BC
Alternative title
Methodology for Measuring Government Performance with Cease Trade Orders in BC 2019-2025

Dates

Created
2025-11-26
Work