Client Focused Reforms (CFR) and client complaint handling Regulators have not provided any direct guidance in this area. However, based on the general principles underlying CFR we believe that the putting clients interest first and resolving conflicts-of-interest in the best interests of clients provisions suggest the following best practices: Complaint resolution should be considered a material conflict-of-interest requiring definitive Dealer mitigation. All complaint-related communications should be in plain language including the final response letter Dealers should assist complain ..read more

  A proprietary fund is a fund where the sale and manufacture of the fund are part of the same corporate entity. The obvious advantage of this arrangement is the company makes profit on managing the fund AND on selling it. If the salesperson does not offer a variety of competitive funds to you, it reduces your choices and could mean you are not being offered the best funds for your needs. “Best “includes such characteristics as risk, cost and performance. Sometimes Reps selling prop funds are rewarded more for selling these funds instead of better, more competitive funds. Over time, th ..read more

There are many valid reasons why you may want to transfer your investment accounts from one financial institution to another. Some of these include: ·         To consolidate all your accounts in one financial institution for ease of access and management. ·         When looking for cheaper investing options such as a robo-advisor  ·         Dissatisfaction with your advisor or the institution’s services  ·         Choosing to ..read more

The Fund Facts disclosure document is given to every investor in a mutual fund. Fund Facts provides key information about the fund. Some of the useful information provided includes the MER, top 10 holdings and past performance. Fund Facts however does not provide information on the fund’s investment strategy, the risks involved in owning the fund and the actual amount of trailing commission that the fund will be paying dealers (it merely discloses a range from 0-1%). While Fund Facts doesn’t provide all the information necessary to make an investment decision, at least the information provided ..read more

  When the Ford government failed to go along with other provinces in banning the toxic DSC fund, it had a profound impact on confidence in financial markets and their regulation. Some of the unintended consequences include: ·         It showed how special interests can be brought to bear on the Government to the detriment of ordinary citizens ·         It alienated other provincial jurisdictions that had thought the OSC was on board with a ban ·         The interventio ..read more

  In addition to wreaking havoc on the Canadian economy at large, COVID-19 has had sudden and significant repercussions for how individuals, especially seniors, conduct their financial planning—specifically, how they approach investments and saving goals. Many households have experienced income shocks and have burned through their cash reserves, illustrating the critical role that liquid assets play in the health of any financial plan. Other workers have experienced health challenges at the same time they’ve experienced income reductions or outright unemployment, highlighti ..read more

Canadian securities regulators are contemplating implementing access equals delivery for prospectuses, financial statements and MD&A, and possibly other types of documents, including rights offering materials, proxy-related materials and bid circulars.The regualtors describes “delivery” to mean document filing on SEDAR (The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval), posting on the issuer website and issuance of a News Release. We do not believe that such a process is actually delivery. It is insufficient to protect and engage investors, and in particular retail investors ..read more

The pandemic is likely to be a life- altering event for many individual investors who might experience, among other things: ·         a loss or significant decrease in employment or business income, ·         a significant decrease in the value of their investments, and/or ·         become seriously ill This means that the investors’ know-your-client (KYC) information could need updating.  Portfolio holdings and/or accounts might no longer be suitable for them. We expect risk tolerance, risk capacity, objectives and time horizon to be severely impacted for many investors. For ..read more

Investment objectives are the result desired by the client from investing and should relate to the type of investments that will be purchased by the client. Be sure to articulate the time horizon in your statement of objectives. Time horizon is a critical parameter in the Know-Your-Client (KYC) process. Time horizon is the period from now to when the client will need to access a significant portion of the money invested. It can be defined in absolute terms or in ranges that provide for a sufficient number of categories to assess the suitability of the products sold or investment strategies ..read more

Introduction Investors receive many documents from their investment dealers.  Not all documents are of equal importance.  INVESTORS BEWARE: some documents are Red flags and investors should review these documents with special attention and care. The problem – Red flags We often read something like the following in regulatory sanction decision documents: “On November 14, 2017, the Member sent a letter with a 3-year transactional summary to all clients serviced by the Respondent. The Member requested that the clients review their transaction summaries to ensure that the trading activity ..read more