The British Columbia Securities Commission has disciplined a Montreal-based investment management firm for breaching registration requirements.

Jarislowsky, Fraser Ltd., an investment counsel and portfolio manager with offices in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary, has reached a settlement with the BCSC after it admitted to advising as many as 43 B.C. clients over 13 years without being registered to do so in B.C.

Under the settlement, the firm must pay $235,850 to the BCSC, a sum that includes registration fees that it would have had to pay to operate in B.C. had it been properly registered along with $5,000 towards the costs of the investigation.

On Aug. 18, 2004, the firm registered as a portfolio manager and investment counsel in B.C.