Ross Sherwood, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. is the new chairman of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada. More efficient regulation is a priority, he says.

In his incoming address at the IDA’s annual conference in Banff, Alta., Sherwood set out his priorities for the coming year. “We will continue to respond to investors’ increasing demands for protection, restitution, transparency and effective disclosure,” he pledged. The fair-dealing model will continue to be a key priority. Sherwood, along with IDA senior vice president of member regulation Paul Bourque, has chaired two of the three committees drafting rules to implement the FDM. The final drafting of the rule will be done by an IDA and MFDA committee with CSA observers.

Sherwood also says he will continue to champion the interests of small dealers within the IDA. “There is no doubt the regulatory burden on the securities industry has grown significantly in the past 10 years and it’s a burden that falls disproportionately on smaller firms,” he says. “No one denies the need for rules, both in terms of high-level statements of principle as well as detailed prescriptions to ensure investors are protected and markets operate efficiently, but the challenge remains to implement only those rules that are really needed and to do so in a way that achieves the intended result.”

He notes that the IDA has taken steps in this direction with its focus on risk-based compliance. Last month, it issued the first individual firm risk trend reports which, Sherwood suggests, “will lead to lowering overall industry risk, thus reducing risk to investors and reducing the regulatory burden.”

The IDA also needs to do a better job communicating with its members, he says: “Currently, we transfer regulatory knowledge and expertise to the industry in a number of ways, but it’s clear that more can and needs to be done by the IDA to fully deliver on this important aspect of its mandate. The IDA must continue to be proactive in encouraging participation from our member firms in the rule-making process and seek feedback on making the compliance process more efficient. The objective should be to achieve the highest standard of integrity through the most efficient regulatory process possible.”

Sherwood also echoed IDA president and CEO Joe Oliver in his call for SRO consolidation. “Consolidation would provide clarity: it would streamline; it would create much needed uniformity and, last but not least, it would help reduce the weight of regulatory burden on the industry,” Oliver says. “We cannot on our own bring about regulatory reform — that is in the hands of governments, commissions and politicians. But it is in our power to alleviate the regulatory burden through consolidation of the SRO system. It’s time to show industry leadership and act decisively.”

Sherwood is replaced as vice chairman by Ron Lloyd, president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. In other board changes, the IDA announced that Anne-Marie d’Amours, Capimont Technologies Inc., and Dr. Daniel Muzyka, University of British Columbia, have joined the board as public directors for two-year terms. James Baillie, Torys LLP, and Michael Grandin, Fording Canadian Coal Trust, will serve additional two-year terms on the board. It also recently appointed Timothy Price, MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc., and Roger Casgrain, Casgrain & Co. Ltd. to the board. Berkshire Securities Inc.’s Frank Laferriere has agreed to serve another two-year term. And Jane Smith of Beacon Securities Ltd. is joining the board as national advisory committee chairwoman.

Sherwood speech
http://www.ida.ca/Files/Media/AnnualConf/2005/Speeches/2005IncomingChairAddress_en.pdf