A related financial instrument is an instrument, agreement, security or, in some jurisdictions an exchange contract, that has a value based on, derived from, or otherwise referenced to the value, market price or payment obligations of a security. The term also includes any other type of instrument, agreement or understanding that affects, whether directly or indirectly, a person or company’s economic interest in a security or exchange contract.
For further explanation of related financial instruments and economic interest, see Part 1 of Companion Policy 55-104CP.
Important note: SEDI does not use the term “related financial instrument”. Instead, for the purposes of SEDI, all instruments – whether securities or related financial instruments – are considered securities. For the purposes of SEDI, the category of “security” includes two subcategories relating to derivatives:
- “Issuer derivatives” are derivatives issued by the issuer. Issuer derivatives include options, warrants, rights and special warrants issued by an issuer. Share-based compensation instruments, including phantom stock units, deferred share units (DSUs), restricted share awards (RSAs), performance share units (PSUs), stock appreciation rights (SARs) and similar instruments are also generally issuer derivatives. The issuer designates these derivatives in its issuer profile supplement.
- “Third party derivatives” are derivatives offered by someone other than the issuer. The price, value or payment obligations of third party derivatives are based on an underlying interest (such as common shares) issued by the issuer as the underlying security. Third party derivatives include exchange-traded options or over-the-counter (OTC) options.
Please refer to the derivatives section in the online help on SEDI for additional information about derivatives reporting.