Briefly:

Previous Brieflies this week: | MON | TUE | WED | <ahref=”/” title=””>THU |

(October 19, 2006) More accustomed to disciplining stockbrokers, the BCSC has found itself issuing an order banning a pawnbroker from the province’s capital markets for 20 years.

According to the regulator, Daryl Joseph Klein, of Nanaimo, B.C., sought to prop up his failing pawnshop by finding new investors. He enlisted the aid of Douglas Arnold Clarke, operator of Bick Financial Services. The two succeeded in raising $14.8 million from investors, but failed to file a prospectus or register with the regulator.

At least 54 investors were involved, including Bick Financial. Clarke raised $4.4 million of the total, soliciting about 225 investors. Klein’s company used the funds to make loans to its pawn-broking clients, to pay for its operating expenses, and to pay back principal and interest to investors.

The pawnshop struggled to record an operating profit, however, and repayments to investors stopped in November 2005. As of December 31, 2005, Klein owed investors about $17 million.

In his settlement, Clarke also admitted to violating securities laws through unregistered advising and making misrepresentations about Insta-Cash Loans in a brochure he sent to potential investors.

• • •

TSX sets new trading records

(October 19, 2006) The Toronto Stock Exchange has already set a new volume record for the year, with 64.17 billion shares trading hands by 10:15 Thursday morning. The value of trades made has also eclipsed 2005’s full-year record, hitting $1.126 trillion. With more than two months left in the year, the grand total for 2006 should be staggering.

“We continue to see increased activity in our market from investors around the globe,” said Richard Nesbitt, CEO of TSX Group. “Much of our trading increase in 2006 is in resources — an area where we are a global leader in the number of listings in both mining and energy companies.”

The past decade has seen only one annual decline in volume, when 37 billion shares traded hands in 2001, down 3.5 billion from 2000’s 40.7 billion.

As of September 30, 2006, there were 1,584 issuers listing 2,036 issues on the TSX. Adding in the listings on the TSX Venture Exchange, the domestic market cap of $1.907 trillion makes the TSX Group the seventh largest exchange in the world.

• • •

Canadians want more info from charities

(October 19, 2006) Canadians continue to have faith in charities, saying they are better at meeting the needs of people than the government, according to a survey by The Muttart Foundation, an Edmonton, Alta.-based philanthropic fund.

Nearly three-quarters of the 3,900 survey respondents said charities understand the needs of Canadians better than government. But at the same time, many said charities do not supply enough information on the services they provide or the costs of their fundraising efforts.

“Many charities say that much of this information is already available,” said Bob Wyatt, executive director of The Muttart Foundation. “But clearly, Canadians don’t think it is. It’s critical that we respond to these concerns. The charitable sector must find more effective ways to deliver their message to its key stakeholders — the public it serves, donors, and government.”

The survey found 88% of respondents think that charities improve our quality of life. But despite that, 62% of respondents believe it is unacceptable for charities to employ fundraisers or firms whose compensation is based on commissions from donations.

The survey interviewed 3,864 Canadians between May and July, and is considered accurate within 2.2%, 19 times out of 20.

• • •

Tech firm hires hedge fund manager

(October 19, 2006) SS&C Technologies has announced the hiring of Henry Toy, formerly a senior executive with the New York-based hedge fund, Fore Research. SS&C is a global provider of financial services software.

“Our success as one of the world’s top hedge fund administrators is a testament to our ability to attract seasoned executives like Henry Toy,” says SS&C chairman and chief executive officer Bill Stone. “His industry knowledge and experience will be invaluable to us in expanding our fund services business in Canada and Europe.”

Toy holds a Master’s degree in accounting from the University of Waterloo and qualified for his CA designation in Ontario in 1996.

(10/19/06)