A Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada hearing panel has accepted a settlement agreement with former advisor Christopher An that will see him banned permanently from the investment industry for conducting unauthorized trades and falsifying multiple documents for an individual he had not met.
An’s misconduct occurred between February and November 2014, according to the MFDA’s announcement on Thursday. The former advisor in Toronto was registered as a dealing representative with Toronto-based TD Investment Services Inc. (TDIS) and was employed at the firm’s retail banking affiliate during this time period.
An’s admission of his non-permitted conduct was taken into account in the drafting of the settlement agreement, which states: “The respondent has not previously been the subject of MFDA disciplinary proceedings. The respondent has expressed remorse for his conduct. By entering into this settlement agreement, the respondent has saved the MFDA the time, resources and expenses associated with conducting a full hearing of the allegations.”
The former advisor’s conduct surrounds actions taken within the account of a client referred to as “YS” in the agreement. YS was a client of TDIS but An was not her advisor.
An processed five trades within YS’s account without her knowledge and authorization. Two of those trades involved the purchases of mutual funds, which An funded by redeeming guaranteed investment certificates that YS had held. The former rep invested $42,465 of YS’s money in mutual funds without her knowledge.
An admitted to completing a know-your-client (KYC) form for YS without having met or discussed the document with her in order to process the unauthorized trades. He falsified her signature on the KYC form and on documents connected to some of the trades.
He also falsely stated on the KYC form that she resided in Toronto even though she did not live in Canada at the time, as TDIS prohibited its approved persons from processing mutual fund purchases for clients who did not live in Ontario.
An’s branch manager became aware of the situation in November 2014 when YS contacted the manager after learning of the non-permitted trades through her electronic statements. TDIS began an investigation into An’s conduct that same month and terminated him on Dec. 11, 2014.
“The respondent states that he processed the unauthorized trades described above in order to achieve sales targets set by TDIS,” the settlement agreement states. “Upon achieving the sales targets, the respondent would have received increased compensation through TDIS’s branch incentive plan. As a result of his termination, the respondent was not eligible for the branch incentive plan.”
An is not currently registered in the securities industry. In January 2015, TDIS and its retail banking affiliate reversed all of the unauthorized transactions made in YS’s account.
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