The Fiduciary Standard and Beyond: Financial Adviser-Client Relationship

This one day conference at the OBA Conference Centre was organized by FAIR Canada and the Hennick Centre for Business and Law. It attracted over 100 individuals from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. There were four panels and a luncheon panel with the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments as Keynote Speaker.

• Introducing the Fiduciary Standard Debate - FAIR Canada, Hennick Centre, Boston University School of Law, Committee for the Fiduciary Standard, Torys LLP
• Rethinking the Client-Adviser Relationship - Globe and Mail, CFA Institute, Financial Planning Standards Council, U.K. Financial Services Authority, University of British Columbia
• Enforcement and Remedies - Ontario Securities Commission, Groia & Company, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Miller Thomson Pouliot
• Implementing a Fiduciary Standard and Beyond - Investment Industry Regulation Organization of Canada, Consumer federation of America, Investment industry Association of Canada

There was a good mixture of aprticipants representing regulators industry and investors. The format was panel discussion led by a moderator followed by questions submitted from the floor and presented by the moderator, and also direct questions form the floor.

After Ermanno Pascutto's introduction, Ed Wairzer started off by saying the financial market meltdown has created a new awareness and precipitated widespread public involvement in investment issues. He said "Financial Advisers should be acting in the interests of clients and make full disclosure."

Law Professor Tamar Frankel  was without doubt the star of the conference and recieved a round of applause after her insightful presentation in which she talked about the fundamentals in a direct forceful language that everyone understood. She left little doubt that there must be change.

Peter Smith representing the UK Financial Service Authority also made no bones about the state of the art in the investment industry. He said there is "lots and  lots and lots of bad advice". He estimates the cost to retail investors at 35 billion pounds. He said the retail market needs fixing and it is "clear there should be no industry led solutions".

Pierre Paguet of Miller Thomson Pouliot brought interesting perspectives from Quebec. We believe Quebec is way ahead of TROC in regulation and prosecution of perpetrators. The Markarian decision is a must read for all investors. Paquet reported that the Judge ordered repayment of the loss of $1.2 million, plus expenses, damages, and lost opportunity and then added punitive damages because of the CIBC's behavior to bring the total ticket to over $4 million. This is powerful incentive for industry to tow the line. The Markarian decision is a landmark decision. It is a must read for all investors and is available at http://www.sipa.ca/.
  
Several media representatives were in attendance so some media reporting is expected.

Investors who lost in 2008 can lose again

Many investors lost money in 2008. If it was due to wrongdoing they may have cause for civil action. However the statute of limitations has been reduced from six years to two years in most provinces. Therefore many vicitms of wrongdoing could be statute barred if they fail to take action within the two years from the cause of the loss.

If you try to resolve your dispute by dealing with the industry complaint handling process you could spend considerable time, and risk being statute barred from taking civil action should you be unable to satisfactorily resolve your dispute. SIPA continues to advise members to seek legal advice prior to taking any action to resolve a dispute with industry and regulators.

If you lost money in 2008 you could be reaching the end of your limitation period. You will need several months to initiate a civil action, so don't wait until near the end of your two year period.

For additional information on limitation periods and getting your complaint resolved visit SIPA's website at http://www.sipa.ca/.