The embattled Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) welcomed three new directors to its board at its annual general meeting in Calgary on Tuesday.
OBSI, which has been undergoing an overhaul of its governance mechanisms, appointed: Kevin Regan, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of IGM Financial Inc.; Jim Emmerton, executive director of the B.C. Law Institute and Canadian Centre for Elder Law; and, Janis Riven, LL.B., adjunct professor at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University; to its board.
These appointments come in the wake of governance reforms that organization has been implementing in response to an independent review of the dispute resolution service that was published last fall, including changes to the composition of the board, and changes to the processes for identifying prospective directors.
The review also recommended a slew of other major reforms for OBSI in order to combat growing industry resistance to its work. But, so far, none of those recommendations — which require the involvement of regulators and other policymakers — have been followed. Indeed, the federal department of Finance has ignored calls from consumer advocates to require banks to belong to OBSI; allowing them to hire their own dispute resolution services instead.
In terms of the new board members, OBSI says that, “an extensive search process was undertaken to find the right individuals to replace several long-serving directors who were retiring.”
Regan, who will serve as an industry director, was nominated for the OBSI board by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA). He currently also serves on the board of the MFDA Investor Protection Corp. and the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba.
Emmerton will serve as a community director. He has also been a member of OBSI’s Consumer and Investor Advisory Council since its inception. And, Riven, who will also serve as a community director, is a governance and compliance consultant.
Two industry directors were also re-elected to new terms: Lynne Kilpatrick, who was nominated by the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA); and, Craig Hayman, nominated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
Earlier this year, OBSI also named a new chair, Fernand Bélisle. He also took office as a community director at the AGM, and was officially elected as the new chair, replacing outgoing chair, Peggy-Anne Brown. The other new directors replace long-serving OBSI directors, Daniel Gallivan, Leonard Flett, and Ed Legzdins.