Firms not meeting KYC requirements: OSC

The OSC has released its 2012 annual summary report for dealers, advisors and fund managers.

This year, its compliance branch says it “continue[s] to identify significant deficiencies in compliance by some registrants with their KYC and suitability obligations.”

It adds, “Unsuitable investments are a common subject of investor complaints” and claims.

It’s also highlighted a “number of cases recently where a registered firm was directly selling [its own] securities to clients.” Firms run the risk of creating conflicts of interest by raising money from investors, especially if they run into financial problems or if they don’t properly outline possible risks due to personal biases.

The report summarizes new and proposed rules and initiatives impacting firms, current trends in deficiencies from compliance reviews of registrants (and suggested practices to address them), and current trends in registration issues.

It also provides a summary of some key registrant misconduct cases, and offers tips on how to prepare for an OSC compliance review.

Read the report.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.