IIROC (the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) has launched a new tool for investors that will allow them to find out more about their IIROC licensed financial advisor. It should be noted that IIROC licensed advisors are in the minority in Canada. There are roughly 25,000 such advisors out of a total of about 200,000 in Canada. IIROC licensed advisors are the only ones allowed to advise and trade individual securities like stocks and bonds. Everyone else is going to basically use mutual funds or segregated funds.
(Rough numbers: 25,000 IIROC, 75,000 MFDA and 100,000 Life Agents who may or may not advise on investments.)
AdvisorReport
The new tool is called AdvisorReport. You can find it under the new “Know Your Advisor” section of IIROC’s website. (Sound familiar??)
The advisor report will list the courses completed by the advisor, the roles they are licensed for, and any past disciplinary action from IIROC.
It is imperative to understand that if your advisor is not listed here, it may just mean they are licensed under a different regulatory body. IIROC has also set up a new page for to help point you in the right place to search for registrants outside of IIROC. Again, look familiar? Great minds think alike, I suppose… although most people forget the second half of that quote: “…and fools seldom differ.” Yeah, let’s forget that second part of the quote… :)
Great timing on this post. I’m supposed to meet with a prospective advisor tomorrow night, I searched him out and he’s been subjected to some stiff penalties in the past for some personal fraudulent activity. Once I confirm that I’m looking at the right record I’ll be canceling the meeting.
Kudos to IIROC for making this information so easy to obtain.
Thanks for this post as tools like this are needed!
The info is very limited ….they should have full Bio’s….so we know all those letters after their name are real