Ahead of new SRO, MFDA names council members

With the launch of a new self-regulatory organization on the horizon, the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) named new members to its regional councils, which are slated to be replaced in the new SRO structure.

Following a nomination and election process, the MFDA announced the new participants on its four regional councils, which currently preside over its disciplinary proceedings.

The new council members have been appointed to two-year terms, but it’s expected that the MFDA’s councils will be replaced by 10 hearing committees in the new SRO structure, which is due to take effect by the end of the year.

Once that new structure is adopted, the members of the MFDA regional councils will automatically become members of the new SRO’s hearing committees “to ensure continuity of enforcement proceedings,” the MFDA said in a notice to the industry.

The Atlantic Regional Council is chaired by Jason Downey of Investors Group Wealth Management, and its vice chair is Joshua Martin from Cooperators Financial Investment Services. It also includes Darrell Bing of PEAK Investment Services Inc. and Réjean Deprés of National Bank Investments Inc.

The Central Regional Council is chaired by Linda Anderson of PFSL Investments Canada Ltd., with Eugene Park from Frontier Capital Funds Inc. as the vice chair.

The other members of the council are: Robert Christianson and Craig Woolford from Quadrus Investment Services Ltd., Canada Life; Michael-Murray Coulter, Investia Financial Services Inc.; Bianca Dupuis, National Bank Investments; Patrick Galarneau, Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.; Cheryl Hamilton, Hub Capital Inc.; Cas Litwin, IPC Investment Corp.; Samuel Mah, TD Investment Services Inc.; Vasant Pachapurkar and Jeff Page, Investors Group Financial Services Inc.; Melody Potter, Monarch Wealth Corp.; Colleen Waring, PEAK; and Robert White, Tradex Management Inc.

The chair of the Prairie Regional Council is James Samanta from Investia. The vice chair is Patricia Rigsby, BMO Investments Inc.

The Prairie council also includes: Richard Bergeron, HUB Capital Inc.; Diane Jaspers, Sun Life Financial Investments (Canada) Inc.; Cathy Kelly and Shameel Thakrar from Investors Group Financial; Birju Shah, Canadian Western Financial Ltd.; and Annette Stephens and Greg Wiebe, Quadrus.

The Pacific Regional Council is chaired by Darlene Barker, Desjardins Financial, with Susan Monk from PEAK as vice chair. Its other members are: Nova Aitchison, Desjardins Financial; Elizabeth Chichka, Quadrus; Darryl Gossen, Investors Group Financial; and Tammi Walsh and Jared Webb from Fernhill Financial Corp.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.