Juin-JuiLLet-août 2012 | voL. 37 no 3 - Chambre de la sécurité ...

message from management
The Chambre, Securing Your
Interests in Disciplinary Matters:
It’s Everyone’s Business, Including the Banks!
Dany Bergeron,
B.B.A., C.L.U., C.A.A.S., FMA, FCSI
Chair of the Board
Luc Labelle, M.Sc.
President and Chief
Executive Officer
The disciplinary process, through
which the Chambre sees to it that
breaches of the rules of ethics
committed by its members are
punished, is the best tool available
to the Chambre to protect the
public. The process ensures that
the collective reputation of the
representatives who are self-regulated
by the Chambre remains intact and,
where necessary, that undesirable
elements are kept out of the fields
of practice entrusted to our
supervisory powers.
Our syndic plays a crucial role in
fulfilling the Chambre’s mission to
protect the public. In performing
her duties, she investigates the
professional conduct of representatives
who are members of the Chambre
and appear to have violated An
Act respecting the distribution of
financial products and services (the
“Distribution Act”), the Securities Act
or their regulations.
Traditionally, all industry players
recognized the effectiveness of the
tools available to the Chambre’s
syndic to carry out her investigations.
They cooperated willingly, providing
the information she needed to bring
violators before the disciplinary committee,
where appropriate. However,
a few months ago, the situation
changed. Since then, several banks
have refused to cooperate fully with the
syndic’s investigations.
To justify their refusal, they argue
that the syndic’s jurisdiction is limited
to representatives’ pursuit of mutual
fund activities and that the syndic does
not have jurisdiction in matters involving
dismissals due to a lack of probity,
honesty or integrity with respect to a
representative’s banking activities, even
if the situation involves the conduct of
a former representative attached to a
firm associated with the bank.
We believe that helping the
Chambre and its syndic to
protect the public by giving
her the means to file a
disciplinary complaint has
always been everyone’s
business… including the
banking institutions!
In the Chambre’s opinion, the
Distribution Act was never intended to
establish a distinction through which
the syndic is blocked from accessing
the evidence she requires regarding
a representative’s activities. On the
contrary! We believe that helping the
Chambre and its syndic to protect
the public by giving her the means to
file a disciplinary complaint has always
been everyone’s business... including
the banking institutions!
Faced with a situation which can
only worsen over time, the Chambre
has unhesitatingly supported its
syndic in her fight before the courts
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SÉCURITÉ FINANCIÈRE | vol. 37 n o 3