AGREED FACTS Registration History.
6. Since 1997, the Respondent has been registered as a mutual fund salesperson (now known as Dealing Representative) in Ontario with Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc.1 (“Sun Life”), a member of the MFDA.
7. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Waterloo, Ontario area.
1 Before merging in 2002, known as Sun Life Financial Services (Canada) Inc. and Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Inc.
8. Between August 2006 and September 2013, the Respondent obtained, possessed, and in some instances, used to process transactions, a total of 49 blank pre-signed client account forms in respect of 27 clients.
9. Of the 49 blank pre-signed forms, which included order entry forms, Pre-Authorized Contribution Agreement forms, and Know-Your-Client forms, 17 were used.
10. Between August 2006 and September 2013, the Respondent obtained, altered, and used to process transactions, 6 order entry forms, in respect of 7 clients.
11. Sun Life’s compliance staff detected the conduct that is the subject of this Settlement Agreement as a result of an audit of the Respondent’s client files on October 31, 2013.
12. Sun Life conducted an interview with the Respondent on November 8, 2013. After the interview, on November 25, 2013, Sun Life conducted a further comprehensive audit of all the Respondent’s files, revealing further irregular forms.
13. As part of its investigation, Sun Life sent letters to all clients serviced by the Respondent to determine whether the Respondent had engaged in any unauthorized trading in their accounts. None of the clients reported any concerns to Sun Life.
14. As part of its investigation, Sun Life directed the Respondent’s Branch Manager to meet with all clients affected by the conduct that is the subject of this Settlement Agreement whose forms were submitted for processing.
15. Additionally, Sun Life telephoned 21 of the clients affected by the Respondent’s conduct. 16 of these clients reported satisfaction with the handling of their accounts, while the remaining 5 were either unreachable or unable to communicate in English.
16. The Respondent had obtained limited trade authorizations for all of the affected clients.
17. On June 16, 2014, Sun Life placed the Respondent under close supervision for a 12 month period. No compliance concerns regarding the Respondent have arisen as a result.
18. There is no evidence that the Respondent received any financial benefit from engaging in the misconduct described above beyond the commissio...
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 6. Since April 27, 2010, the Respondent has been registered in Alberta as a mutual fund dealing representative with Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc. a Member of the MFDA (the “Member”).
7. The Respondent is currently registered in the securities industry as a mutual fund dealing representative with the Member.
8. At all material times, the Respondent operated out of the Member’s branch located in Edmonton, Alberta.
9. The Respondent first met with client MC on April 11, 2013, when the client was 33 years old, in order for client MC to open an account with Sun Life and invest the proceeds of a pension transfer in the amount of $91,762.83. During this meeting, client MC signed a Transfer Authorization for Registered Investments Form transferring the proceeds of her pension to the Member and authorizing the investment of all of the pension proceeds into the Sun Life Money Market Fund (the “Money Market Fund”).
10. During the April 11, 2013 meeting, the Respondent and client MC discussed transferring the funds invested in the Money Market Fund to other mutual funds at some point in the future. Client MC and the Respondent agreed to a plan to evenly split the funds residing in the Money Market Fund between two Sun Life funds: the Managed Granite Balanced Fund (the “Balanced Fund”) and the Global Investments Managed Enhanced Income Fund (the “Income Fund”).
11. Client MC did not sign any additional transfer documents (apart from the Transfer Authorization for Registered Investments Form described in paragraph 9) or trade forms during the meeting on April 11, 2013.
12. Following client MC’s investment in the Money Market Fund, the Respondent discussed her recommendation to move the client’s monies into the Balanced Fund and the Income Fund with the Regional Wealth Sales Director at the Member. Following that discussion and her further review, the Respondent felt that a reallocation of the funds designated for the Income Fund to two alternate funds, the Dynamic Strategic Yield Fund (the “Yield Fund”) and the MFS Global Total Return Fund (the “Total Return Fund”), would be to client MC’s benefit.
13. On August 15, 2013, the Respondent emailed client MC and recommended the revised asset allocation for her investments. Specifically, the Respondent recommended that client MC redeem her investment in the Money Market Fund and allocate the monies as follows:
a) 50% of the monies would be invested in the Balanced Fund (as previously discussed with cli...
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 7. Commencing in 2005, the Respondent was registered in the securities industry.
8. Between May 1, 2014 and December 18, 2019 in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, the Respondent was registered as a dealing representative with IPC Investment Corporation. (the “Member”), a Member of the MFDA.
9. The Respondent was terminated by the Member on December 18, 2019, and he is not presently registered in the securities industry.
10. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Ottawa, Ontario area.
11. Between December 8, 2015 and August 31, 2018, while the Respondent was an Approved Person of the Member, he altered, and used to process transactions, 11 account forms in respect of 9 clients by altering information on the account forms without having the client initial the alterations.
12. The altered account forms included: 6 trade tickets; 4 order entry forms; and 1 trade authorization for registered investments form.
13. The alterations made by the Respondent consist of alterations to: investment instructions; fund codes; account numbers; and client signature dates.
14. At all material times, the Member’s policies and procedures prohibited the use of pre- signed forms.
15. Between June 15, 2015 and February 26, 2019, while the Respondent was an Approved Person of the Member, he obtained, possessed and, in some instances, used to process transactions, 49 pre-signed account forms in respect of 28 clients.
16. The pre-signed account forms included: 25 Know-Your-Client (“KYC”) forms, 6 new account application forms (“NAAF”); 11 order entry forms; 3 trade tickets; 2 transfer application forms; and 1 pre-authorized approval contribution form.
17. Between December 17, 2015 and January 7, 2016, while the Respondent was an Approved Person of the Member, the Respondent photocopied an order entry form that had been signed by 2 clients and altered the form to complete 4 additional transactions.
18. In July 2019, the Member conducted a branch review and identified the pre-signed forms, altered forms, and re-used account forms that are the subject of this Settlement Agreement.
19. On July 10, 2019, as a result of the Member’s findings during its branch review, the Member suspended the Respondent until his termination on December 18, 2019.
20. In October 2019, the Member sent audit letters to all clients whose accounts were serviced by the Respondent. This audit letter included a two‐year transaction summary and the clients KYC information for each of th...
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 6. The Respondent was registered as a mutual fund salesperson in Ontario with Global Maxfin Investments Inc. (“Global”) between November 4, 2004 and June 8, 2012, at which time Global terminated the Respondent for the matters described herein.
7. The Respondent is currently not registered in the securities industry in any capacity.
8. At all material times, the Respondent has conducted business in the Mississauga, Ontario area.
9. In May 2012, the Ontario Securities Commissions advised Staff that the Respondent had received payments from Waterview Capital Corp. (“Waterview”) in connection with referrals by the Respondent of investors to purchase investments in Waterview.
10. Waterview was an exempt market dealer whose registration, as well as its principal’s, was suspended by the Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”) on April 25, 2011 following a compliance examination by OSC Staff which identified numerous violations, including that Waterview did not maintain know-your-client forms for some investors, traded without registration while suspended, and sold investments to a non-accredited investor.
11. Prior to its suspension, Waterview sold investments that included interests in mortgage securities on certain properties.
12. In July or August 2010, the Respondent attended a seminar in respect of the Waterview investment where the terms of the investment were presented. The Respondent was told that he would be paid a fee for referring investors to Waterview.
13. The Respondent:
a) advised at least two clients about the investment in Waterview;
b) provided the clients with contact information of the Waterview representative; and
c) received from Waterview referral fees totaling $2,500, pertaining to two clients he referred to Waterview having purchased investments as follows: Clients Amount invested in Waterview Referral fee paid to the Respondent Date of referral fee payment to Respondent 1 RR $25,000 $1,250 September 7, 2010 2 MS $25,000 $1,250 November 2, 2010 Total $2,500 14. There is no evidence that the Respondent acted in any further capacity as an intermediary between the clients and Waterview.
AGREED FACTS Registration History.
6. Since about February 1, 2012, the Respondent has been registered in Ontario as a mutual fund salesperson (now known as a dealing representative) with Investors Group Financial Services Inc. (“IG”), a Member of the MFDA. Since October 2015, Respondent has also been registered in Alberta as a mutual fund salesperson with IG.
7. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in Val Xxxxx, Ontario.
8. At all material times, IG’s policies and procedures prohibited its Approved Persons from engaging in discretionary trading.
9. An individual who is registered as a mutual fund salesperson is not permitted to accept discretionary trading authority from clients.
10. In December 2016, the Respondent serviced approximately 120 clients and $8 million in assets under administration.
11. Between 2012 and 2015, the Respondent’s general practice was to ask clients to complete a risk tolerance form which contained a scale between 1 and 10. This risk tolerance form had not been approved for use by IG. The Respondent would provide clients with Fund Fact sheets for a standard group of 7 to 9 mutual funds that he recommended to all clients whose accounts he serviced. During the meeting, the Respondent would explain his general approach to asset allocation and reference the percentage of particular types of funds (e.g.; equity funds, fixed income funds, etc.) that he typically recommended.
12. Following his initial meetings with clients, the Respondent’s general practice was to determine the client’s risk tolerance based on the responses that the client recorded on the risk tolerance form that he had asked them to complete. Based in part upon his determination of the client’s risk tolerance, the Respondent exercised his discretion to determine which of the 7 to 9 mutual funds that he had referenced during the meeting should be purchased in the client’s accounts and the amount of each mutual fund that should be purchased. The Respondent facilitated the processing of purchases of the mutual funds that he selected in the amounts that he determined would be appropriate without further consultation with the clients.
13. The clients became aware of the specific investment allocations in their portfolios including the specific mutual funds that were purchased and the amounts of each mutual fund that was purchased after the purchase orders had been processed when the clients received their transaction confirmations or quarterly account statements.
14. On or about July 6,...
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 7. Since 1999, the Respondent has been registered in Ontario as a mutual fund salesperson (now known as a Dealing Representative).
8. Since January 2015, the Respondent has been registered with FundEX Investments Inc. (“FundEX”), a Member of the MFDA.
9. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Waterloo, Ontario area.
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 7. Since 1997, the Respondent has been registered in Ontario as a mutual fund salesperson (now known as a Dealing Representative).
8. Since 2002, the Respondent has been registered with Investia Financial Services Inc. (“Investia”), a Member of the MFDA. Since 2004 and 2012, the Respondent has been registered in British Columbia and Alberta, respectively.
9. Between 2009 and 2012, Investia designated the Respondent as a branch manager.
10. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Woodbridge, Ontario area.
AGREED FACTS Registration History.
6. Since August 1990, the Respondent has been registered in Ontario as a mutual fund salesperson (now known as a Dealing Representative) with Investors Group Financial Services Inc. (“Investors Group”), a Member of the MFDA.
7. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Peterborough, Ontario area.
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 6. The Respondent is registered as a mutual fund dealer and exempt market dealer in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.
7. The Respondent has been a Member of the MFDA since May 10, 2002.
8. The Respondent’s head office is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (the “Head Office”). Presently, the Respondent has sub-branch offices located throughout the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
AGREED FACTS Registration History. 6. The Respondent has been registered in the securities industry since July 1994.
7. Since July 26, 2005, the Respondent has been registered in Ontario as a mutual fund salesperson with FundEX Investments Inc. (“FundEX”), a Member of the MFDA.
8. At all material times, the Respondent conducted business in the Kingston, Ontario area.
