MFDA Hearing Panel approves settlement agreement with Brien Ingram Robertson Marshall, Blair Robert Cooper, and Tradex Management Inc.
TORONTO, Dec. 21, 2017 /CNW/ - A settlement hearing in the matter of Brien Ingram Robertson Marshall, Blair Robert Cooper and Tradex Management Inc. ("Tradex") (collectively, "Respondents") was held yesterday in Toronto, Ontario before a three-member Hearing Panel of the Central Regional Council of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada ("MFDA").
The Hearing Panel approved the settlement agreement ("Settlement Agreement") between Staff of the MFDA and the Respondents, as a consequence of which the following sanctions were imposed on the Respondents:
- shall together pay a fine in the amount of $40,000, which fine may be paid jointly and severally;
- shall together pay costs of $5,000, which costs may be paid jointly and severally; and
- shall in the future comply with MFDA Rules 2.1.1, 2.5, 2.9, 2.10, MFDA Policy No. 2, and all applicable securities legislation.
In the Settlement Agreement dated October 24, 2017, the Respondents admitted that:
- between August 14, 2003 and January 28, 2015, Cooper, Marshall and/or other Approved Persons at Tradex acting on their behalf, obtained, possessed and, in some instances, used to process transactions approximately 81 pre-signed account forms in respect of 39 clients, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1;
- between June 15, 2006 and February 21, 2014, Cooper, Marshall and/or other Approved Persons at Tradex acting on their behalf, altered information on 9 account forms in respect of 9 clients after the clients had signed the account forms without obtaining the clients' initials to acknowledge the altered information, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1; and
- between August 14, 2003 and January 28, 2015, Tradex failed to supervise the activities of its Approved Persons in order to ensure compliance with MFDA requirements and failed to establish, implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures that prohibited its Approved Persons from collecting, maintaining or using pre-signed or altered account forms, contrary to MFDA Rules 2.5, 2.9, 2.10, and 2.1.1, and MFDA Policy No. 2.
A copy of the Settlement Agreement is available on the MFDA website at www.mfda.ca.
The MFDA is the self-regulatory organization for Canadian mutual fund dealers, regulating the operations, standards of practice and business conduct of its Members and their approximately 83,000 Approved Persons with a mandate to protect investors and the public interest. For more information about the MFDA's complaint and enforcement processes, as well as links to 'Check an Advisor' and other Investor Tools, visit the For Investors page on the MFDA website.
SOURCE Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada
Charles Toth, Director, Litigation, 416-943-4619, [email protected]
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