An accredited investor is an individual, entity or institution that meets certain income, financial or net assets criteria. In Canada, the exact definition of an accredited investor can be found in section 1.1 of the National Instrument 45-106. There are over 20 situations in where a person might qualify as an accredited investor.
These type of investors are allowed to invest in certain investment instruments that may not be available to an ordinary investor. For example, an accredited investors would be allowed to invest in hedge funds. The most common criteria used are mentioned below.
Income Criteria
Your income before taxes has been at least $200,000 or greater in the last two years and you expect to earn the same level of income this year.
OR
You and your spouse have earned at least $300,000 or greater before taxes in the last two years and you expect to maintain the same level of income this year.
Financial Assets
You and your spouse have financial assets worth at least $1 million before taxes, net of related liabilities
Cash and cash equivalents would be considered liquid or financial assets.
Net Assets
You and your spouse have net assets of at least $5,000,000
Fixed and liquid assets would be included to meet this exception. If you own a $4,500,000 home with $500,000 of liquid assets in the bank, you would qualify as an accredited investor.
Other Criteria
For a list of other criteria, please refer to the National Instrument 45-106. or below for the full list.
Under National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106”) “accredited investor” means:
| (a) | a Canadian financial institution, or a Schedule III bank; |
| (b) | the Business Development Bank of Canada incorporated under the Business Development Bank of Canada Act (Canada); |
| (c) | a subsidiary of any person referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b), if the person owns all of the voting securities of the subsidiary, except the voting securities required by law to be owned by directors of that subsidiary; |
| (d) | a person registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada as an adviser or a dealer; |
| (e) | an individual registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada as a representative of a person referred to in paragraph (d); |
| (e.1) | an individual formerly registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada, other than an individual formerly registered solely as a representative of a limited market dealer under one or both of the Securities Act (Ontario) or the Securities Act (Newfoundland and Labrador); |
| (f) | the Government of Canada or a jurisdiction of Canada, or any crown corporation, agency or wholly owned entity of the Government of Canada or a jurisdiction of Canada; |
| (g) | a municipality, public board or commission in Canada and a metropolitan community, school board, the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’île de Montréal or an intermunicipal management board in Québec; |
| (h) | any national, federal, state, provincial, territorial or municipal government of or in any foreign jurisdiction, or any agency of that government; |
| (i) | a pension fund that is regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada), a pension commission or similar regulatory authority of a jurisdiction of Canada; |
| (j) | an individual who, either alone or with a spouse, beneficially owns financial assets having an aggregate realizable value that before taxes, but net of any related liabilities, exceeds $1,000,000; |
| (j.1) | an individual who beneficially owns financial assets having an aggregate realizable value that, before taxes but net of any related liabilities, exceeds $5,000,000; |
| (k) | an individual whose net income before taxes exceeded $200,000 in each of the two most recent calendar years or whose net income before taxes combined with that of a spouse exceeded $300,000 in each of the two most recent calendar years and who, in either case, reasonably expects to exceed that net income level in the current calendar year; |
| (l) | an individual who, either alone or with a spouse, has net assets of at least $5,000,000; |
| (m) | a person, other than an individual or an investment fund, that has net assets of at least $5,000,000 as shown on its most recently prepared financial statements; |
| (n) | an investment fund that distributes or has distributed its securities only toa person that is or was an accredited investor at the time of the distribution,a person that acquires or acquired securities in the circumstances referred to in sections 2.10 [Minimum amount investment], or 2.19 [Additional investment in investment funds] of NI 45-106, ora person described in paragraph (i) or (ii) that acquires or acquired securities under section 2.18 [Investment fund reinvestment] of NI 45-106; |
| (o) | an investment fund that distributes or has distributed securities under a prospectus in a jurisdiction of Canada for which the regulator or, in Québec, the securities regulatory authority, has issued a receipt; |
| (p) | a trust company or trust corporation registered or authorized to carry on business under the Trust and Loan Companies Act (Canada) or under comparable legislation in a jurisdiction of Canada or a foreign jurisdiction, acting on behalf of a fully managed account managed by the trust company or trust corporation, as the case may be; |
| (q) | a person acting on behalf of a fully managed account managed by that person, if that person is registered or authorized to carry on business as an adviser or the equivalent under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada or a foreign jurisdiction; |
| (r) | a registered charity under the Income Tax Act (Canada) that, in regard to the trade, has obtained advice from an eligibility adviser or an adviser registered under the securities legislation of the jurisdiction of the registered charity to give advice on the securities being traded; |
| (s) | an entity organized in a foreign jurisdiction that is analogous to any of the entities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) or paragraph (i) in form and function; |
| (t) | a person in respect of which all of the owners of interests, direct, indirect or beneficial, except the voting securities required by law to be owned by directors, are persons that are accredited investors; |
| (u) | an investment fund that is advised by a person registered as an adviser or a person that is exempt from registration as an adviser; |
| (v) | a person that is recognized or designated by the securities regulatory authority or, except in Ontario and Québec, the regulator as an accredited investor; or |
| (w) | a trust established by an accredited investor for the benefit of the accredited investor’s family members of which a majority of the trustees are accredited investors and all of the beneficiaries are the accredited investor’s spouse, a former spouse of the accredited investor or a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild of that accredited investor, of that accredited investor’s spouse or of that accredited investor’s former spouse. |
