First impressions are important; especially when you’re looking for someone you can trust to manage your financial future. Unfortunately, more than one-third of Ontario investment advisory firms are failing to fully meet regulatory obligations when behind closed doors with new clients.
A joint report from the Ontario Securities Commission, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada used mystery shoppers to assess 105 advisory shops across Ontario between July and November of 2014.
Eighty-eight of the shopper experiences yielded sufficient data for the regulators to assess. While the mystery shops did not reveal any serious misconduct that necessitated regulatory action, the mystery shoppers found that just 63 percent of the firms surveyed met or exceeded regulatory expectations.
Jeff Lagerquist – BNN News – September 17, 2015