Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. says that former Quebec Securities Commission official Jean-Francois Bernier has been appointed senior VP and managing director of IB Canada.

Bernier will be in charge of expanding IB Canada through its offering of low cost, direct access electronic execution and clearing services for stocks, options and futures traders, including hedge funds, mutual funds, investment advisors, introducing brokers, as well as active and individual professional traders. He will also be responsible for overseeing legal, compliance and operational issues for the firm.

Bernier will operate out of IB Canada’s headquarters in Montreal. IB Canada is a subsidiary of the global electronic brokerage and trading firm Interactive Brokers Group LLC.

“Jean-Francois brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about Canada’s financial and investment environment to his new position as leader of IB Canada,” said IB Group VP David Battan. “We feel very lucky to have him on board.”

Bernier, 40, joins IB Canada from the Quebec Securities Commission, where he was director of corporate finance. He had responsibility for the regulation of public securities issuers, including investment funds, and oversaw securities offerings, continuous disclosure filings and reviews, take-over and issuer bids, mergers and acquisitions and all related administration and document management issues. He supervised a staff of over 60 technical, support, and professional personnel.

“IB Canada is the most cost-effective and technologically sophisticated brokerage firm serving the Canadian market,” said Bernier. “I am confident that our technology and trading tools, which offer efficient, high-speed, direct access to stocks, options and futures products worldwide at the lowest possible cost, will be welcomed by even more of the Canadian investing community as they learn more about us.”

Bernier began his career in 1990 as a corporate and securities attorney with the Montreal office of the law firm of Stikeman, Elliott. After practicing law for five years, he joined the Canadian investment dealer Nesbitt Burns Ltd. where he remained employed as a registered representative prior to joining the QSC in July 2000.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) from the University of Quebec at Montreal, a Bachelor of Civil Law (LL.B) from the University of Sherbrooke and a Graduate Diploma (DESS) in North-American Common Law from the University of Montreal.