Fredericton investment adviser sanctioned
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization says Martin David Hall altered documents
A Fredericton investment adviser has been fined thousands after recently admitting to violating mutual fund dealer rules and altering financial documents, says a national watchdog agency.
The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) is a national self-regulatory organization responsible for overseeing investment dealers, mutual-fund dealers and trading activity on Canadian debt and equity marketplaces.
It issued a news release last week announcing Martin David Hall was sanctioned financially and is no longer registered with a regulated firm.
“Martin Hall admitted that he altered and used to process transactions 10 account forms in respect of 11 clients, by altering information on the account forms without having the client initial the alterations, and obtained, possessed and used to process transactions, 15 pre-signed account forms in respect of 15 clients,” the release said.
At the time of the misconduct, it said, Hall was a registered representative with the Fredericton branch of Investia Financial Services Inc.
Hall and CIRO enforcement staff reached a settlement agreement last month, the release said, noting that Hall agreed to pay $20,000 - 1 fine of $17,500, plus costs of $2,500 - for the violations.
“The information that the respondent altered on the account forms included investment instructions, client net worth information and fund details,” the settlement agreement, published online, states.
It also reveals that the misconduct came to light as a result of an investigation and review instigated by Investia.
“As part of its investigation into the respondent’s conduct, the dealer member sent letters to all clients whose accounts the respondent serviced, and provided the clients with three years of transaction history to determine that the trading activity was executed accurately and according to the clients’ instructions,” the settlement agreement notes.
That investigation revealed while the documents were altered in contravention of mutual fund dealer rules, no clients had complained and there appeared to be no evidence of any losses suffered by clients.
The Fredericton Independent can be reached at ftonindependent@gmail.com.