MFDA issues Notice of Settlement Hearing in respect of Independent Accountants' Investment Group Inc.

TORONTO, March 13, 2012 /CNW/ - The MFDA today announced that it has issued a Notice of Settlement Hearing regarding the presentation, review and consideration of a proposed settlement agreement by a Hearing Panel of the MFDA's Central Regional Council.

The settlement agreement will be between Staff of the MFDA and Independent Accountants' Investment Group Inc. (the "Respondent") and involves matters for which the Respondent may be disciplined by a Hearing Panel pursuant to MFDA By-laws.

The proposed agreement concerns allegations that:

a.	between March 1, 2008 and March 31, 2010, the Respondent failed to ensure that it maintained adequate records of trade supervision;
b.	between October 27, 2009 and January 28, 2011:
	i)	in some cases, the Respondent failed to designate individuals at both its branch offices and at its head office to conduct trade supervision and,
	ii)	in some cases, the Respondent designated an individual as a branch manager or as a compliance officer with responsibility for trade supervision even though such individuals:
		(a)	were not registered in an appropriate registration category; and/or
		(b)	were not employees or agents of the Respondent, supervised by and accountable to the Respondent; and/or
		(c)	failed to meet the minimum proficiency requirements;
		to conduct trade supervision for the Respondent.
c.	The Respondent provided inaccurate information to MFDA Staff in a letter dated December 10, 2010 that reported to MFDA Staff that an individual who lacked the necessary proficiency to conduct account supervision would no longer be conducting account supervision for the Respondent, when, in fact, that individual continued to conduct account supervision for the Respondent until at least January 28, 2011.

The settlement hearing is scheduled to take place on March 30, 2012 commencing at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern) in the MFDA hearing room located at 121 King Street West, Suite 1000, Toronto, Ontario. The hearing will be open to the public, except as may be required for the protection of confidential matters.

A copy of the Notice of Settlement Hearing 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 124 Members and their approximately 75,000 Approved Persons with a mandate to protect investors and the public interest.

Shaun Devlin
Vice-President, Enforcement
416-943-4672 or [email protected]