The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) will focus on the implementation of its Client Relationship Model (CRM), along with other initiatives, in the year ahead.
Speaking at IIROC’s annual general meeting Tuesday, the self-regulatory organization’s president and CEO, Susan Wolburgh Jenah, highlighted IIROC’s CRM initiative among a range of reforms that it adopted in the past year.
“CRM is designed to ensure that the interests of investors and advisors are better aligned. CRM requires meaningful disclosure obligations for advisors and enhances the standards they must meet when assessing the suitability of investments for their clients,” she noted. “The objective is increased transparency for investors about the fees they pay, the services they receive, potential conflicts of interest and the performance of their accounts.”
Wolburgh Jenah noted that it has focused on implementing the CRM reforms over the past few months, and that it will continue to work on effective implementation in the months ahead. “When fully implemented, CRM will raise the bar on industry professionalism and bolster investor confidence,” she said.
Additionally, she noted that IIROC introduced the latest version of its strategic plan in August, which will guide its work over the next three years. To that end, IIROC is, “currently in the process of identifying and prioritizing the initiatives we plan to focus on each year,” she said; adding that it’s also overhauling its internal performance measures, which she says, “will help us to monitor effectiveness in discharging our regulatory mandate.”
Six new directors were elected to IIROC’s board at the AGM, including four new independent directors: Michael Boychuck (president and CEO of BIMCOR Inc.), James Donegan (president and CEO of OMERS Capital Markets), Edward Iacobucci (professor, Osler Chair in Business Law and associate dean of research at the University of Toronto) and Catherine Smith (corporate director).
Two new industry directors were also named: Pruyn Haskins (managing director, co-head, global equity sales and trading in Scotiabank’s global banking and markets group ) and Luc Bachand (vice-chairman and head of BMO Capital Markets, Quebec).
At the board’s meeting Wednesday, Marianne Harris, managing director and president corporate and investment banking at Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., was elected as IIROC’s new chair; and, independent director, Daniel Muzyka, president and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada, was elected vice chair.
Harris replaces outgoing chair, Gerry Rocchi. Four other directors also departed: Daniel Leclair, Grant Vingoe, Michelle Khalili and Eric Kirzner