Geller Law
If you invest in securities, then the key consumer protection is the duty of Dealers to ensure compliance of their salesforce. Dealers talk a good game. The larger the entity (or the bank with which it is associated), the greater the self-promotion. But big does not equate to compliant. Big does not mean that you, the client/investor, are protected from even the most obvious and avoidable of compliance breaches. You are not protected even from the compliance breaches which can foreseeably devastate your retirement/financial plan.
Just take a look at a recent review by securities regulators. Both regulators and their dealer "members" (yes, this cozy group of regulators only considers industry to be its "members") know of the failures to protect you/investors, but do next to nothing. You have rights. Don't let the failures of trusted financial advisors and their dealers destroy your future. Here are some red flags to consider:
"CSA and CIRO staff reviewed 105 firms and found something remarkable. Three years after the enhanced rules came into force, regulators are still seeing basic, serious gaps in how firms collect information about clients, understand products and document how recommendations put the client’s interest first.
We are not talking about obscure technical violations — these are the core controls that stand between Canadians and unsuitable advice. When those controls are weak or ignored, it is ordinary investors — not firms or regulators — who absorb the losses.
Staff do acknowledge that some firms have invested real resources and made meaningful progress. But the examples of persistent non-compliance this far into the CFR regime are hard to reconcile with the story the industry has been telling investors about these reforms." See: Client-focused reforms — four years in, still waiting for results | Investment Executive
