The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has appointed accounting firm, Ernst & Young Inc., to administer the distribution of $1 million to investors as part of a settlement with Deutsche Bank Securities Ltd. concerning its sales of asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) just before the ABCP market seized in 2007.

IIROC said Tuesday that it has appointed to E&Y to help dispense approximately $1 million directly to investors who purchased third-party ABCP issued by Coventree Inc. from Deutsche Bank Securities between July 25, 2007 and August 10, 2007. The funds were collected in an enforcement settlement with the firm.

IIROC fines Deutsche Bank Securities $1 million

Earlier this year, E&Y also administered the distribution of almost $60 million to ABCP investors stemming from settlements between several other dealers and both IIROC and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

IIROC says that it aims to have the funds from the Deutsche settlement paid out to investors by the end of September. E&Y is to begin contacting potentially eligible investors by mail this month, it says, setting out the details of the eligibility criteria (which were determined by IIROC based primarily on the facts set out in the settlement agreement with the firm) and the distribution process.

Eligible investors will be required to submit a completed participation form by July 31. In the meantime, any investor questions on the distribution should be addressed directly to E&Y, it notes.

Any investor questions on the distribution should be addressed directly to Ernst & Young Inc.: