Prince Edward Island (PEI) has joined Alberta, Quebec and Nova Scotia in providing the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) with the full slate of enforcement powers that it has long sought from provincial governments, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) announced Friday.
The PEI government has passed legislation giving IIROC the ability to pursue the collection of disciplinary fines from individual reps through the courts. Bill 47 also bolsters IIROC’s ability to collect evidence during an investigation and provides it with immunity from civil lawsuits for acts done in good faith in order to fulfill its investor protection mandate.
In the past couple of years, several provinces have granted IIROC the ability to collect its fines through the courts, but only four provinces (including PEI) have boosted the SRO’s investigative authority and provided it with legal immunity.
“By making these changes, PEI is sending a strong message of deterrence to potential wrongdoers: If you break IIROC’s rules, there will be serious consequences,” says Andrew Kriegler, president and CEO of IIROC, in a statement.
IIROC has long sought these sorts of legislative measures from the provinces and it “continues discussions with other jurisdictions to achieve a stronger, more consistent level of investor protection from coast to coast,” the SRO says in a news release.
“With the measures passed by PEI and other jurisdictions, IIROC is in a much better position to protect most Canadian investors regardless of where they live, especially seniors and vulnerable retail investors,: Kriegler adds.
“Strengthened IIROC authority to discipline investment industry misconduct, is strengthened protection for investors,” says Elizabeth Mulholland, CEO of Prosper Canada, a Toronto-based charity dedicated to poverty reduction and financial empowerment. “Regulators will now have the tools they need to vigorously enforce the rules when they are broken, enabling them to deter future misconduct and better shield vulnerable Canadians.”