An Ontario-based investment firm and its president will pay the British Columbia Securities Commission $18,750 in fines and fees after admitting to advising clients without being registered.

Cluster Asset Management Inc, an Ontario registrant, and its president, Peter Michael de Auer, admitted in a settlement agreement with the BCSC that the firm provided investment advice to two B.C. clients without registration under the Securities Act from July 2003 to April 2008.

Under the settlement agreement, Cluster and de Auer agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, and Cluster will pay $8,750 for registration fees that otherwise would have been payable to the BCSC if the firm had been registered.

IE