MFDA Hearing Panel approves settlement agreement with Robert Loney
TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2018 /CNW/ - A settlement hearing in the matter of Robert Mark Loney (the "Respondent") took place on October 26, 2018 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 dated July 4, 2018 ("Settlement Agreement") between Staff of the MFDA and the Respondent, as a consequence of which the following sanctions were imposed:
- a permanent prohibition from conducting securities related business in any capacity while in the employ of or associated with a MFDA Member; and
- costs in the amount of $1,000.
In the Settlement Agreement, the Respondent admitted that:
a) between December 2012 and February 12, 2016, he failed to follow client SF's instructions to process the transfer of an existing Registered Education Savings Plan account to the Member, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1;
b) between May 25, 2015 and January 11, 2016, he made three representations to client SF which falsely indicated that the client's Registered Education Savings Plan account had been transferred to the Member, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1;
c) between June 8, 2015 and November 16, 2015, he processed five unauthorized redemptions from client SF's non-registered account without the client's knowledge when he knew that she intended to process the redemptions from a Registered Education Savings Plan account, contrary to MFDA Rules 2.3.1 and 2.1.1;
d) on January 11, 2016, he falsely represented to client SF that the decline in value of her non-registered account was caused by market volatility when in fact the decline in value of the account was attributable at least in part due to unauthorized redemptions that the Respondent had processed in the account without the client's knowledge, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1;
e) between July 6, 2015 and October 28, 2015, he altered the dates of client SF's signature on two account forms and altered the date of the joint account holder's signature on one account form, contrary to MFDA Rule 2.1.1; and
f) between June 12, 2013 and May 7, 2015, he:
- failed to explain the risk of borrowing to invest to client SF prior to recommending that she borrow to invest on four occasions;
- failed to provide a risk disclosure document to client SF prior to processing two mutual fund purchases in the client's non-registered account that were made with borrowed money; and
- failed to classify client SF's non-registered account as "leveraged" on the Member's back office system after processing two mutual fund purchases in the account that were made with borrowed money;
contrary to MFDA Rules 2.2.1, 2.6(b), 2.1.1, 2.5.1, 1.1.2 and the Member's policies and procedures.
A copy of the Settlement Agreement is available on the MFDA website at www.mfda.ca. During the period described in the Settlement Agreement, the Respondent conducted business in Kitchener, Ontario.
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 82,000 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, Managing Director, Litigation, 416-943-4619, [email protected]
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