Sandra Gibson
Financial Post
Monday, June 13, 2005
Your comments are grossly unfair -- my broker conducted 18 trades in February, 2003, which resulted in significant losses for me.
I had written to the broker in January, 2003, regarding a minor infraction and in that letter I stated that "no further transactions were to be conducted without my prior knowledge." That letter went to my broker's compliance department.
I was in Mexico when the 18 trades were conducted in February and did not learn of them until my return.
What more could I have done to protect myself? If, in fact, the industry operates on a "buyer beware" basis, then IDA, OSC, etc., should declare same. (Advocate comment, "I agree 100%, anything less is misleading the public")
Many investors are intimidated (no matter what their level of intelligence or education) by brokers who imply that their knowledge is so specialized that the client could not possibly apprehend enough info to make an independent decision. (advocate comment, "yet when called into court, many bank owned dealers claim "no duty of care" to the client on a technicality, saying, in effect that the client was responsible."
I would also remind you that, unlike you, most investors are focused on other areas of knowledge with which they earn their living and many simply do not have the time to gain the know-how to make a truly informed assessment.
Who was flogging Portus? Were they all "grey" and "white" hats who grabbed their 8% to 12% fees? The problem is that corruption is the norm, not the exception. "I will say for sure that self dealing is the norm, rather than putting client interest first, and if that is corruption, then she is calling a spade a spade.
How can an investor protect himself when we have such a lack of transparency in so many areas?
"The vast majority of advisors" are being instructed to sell in-house wrap funds etc., in order to meet their $500,000-per-year quotas, so how can they "try to align themselves with the needs of their clients"? Brokers are afraid to speak out. (Advocate comment with twenty years in, TRUE)
You belittle that which Stan Buell, Joe Killoran, Robert Kyle etc., have sacrificed so much of their personal lives to achieve.
Sandra Gibson, Toronto
