Frank Laferriere, Berkshire Group Inc. CFO and COO, is urging regulators to lighten the burden on investment dealers.

Laferriere made his comments in a panel addressing the securities industry’s strategic response to regulatory reform at the Investment Dealers Association of Canada annual conference in St. Andrew’s by-the-Sea, N.B on Tuesday.

Laferriere said for small firms the rate of change in regulatory requirements is just becoming too hard to accommodate. He noted that a relatively small firm such as Berkshire, with about 600 reps, has three VPs looking after compliance.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of all the changing rules, and called on regulators to provide some relief, he said.

Laferriere also worried that the “self” in self-regulation is becoming marginalized. He suggested that the IDA and Mutual Fund Dealers Association — Berkshire is a member of both organizations — must have a stronger say in standard setting.

He noted that the MFDA firms are struggling to come to grips with the sort of costs that SRO-level compliance demands. Payouts are being squeezed from the traditional 80%-90% into IDA firm territory, 50%-60%.

Laferriere said Berkshire encourages its reps to migrate to the IDA platform, because the mutual fund dealer category is simply too restrictive to be viable in the long run. Still, the firm maintains that the advisor owns his book, operates his own book, and is his own brand.