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
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Securities Regulators in Canada follow similar line
At most times, investors feel they are protected. At all times, provincial Securities Commissions say they are doing thier job. However many within the industry feel otherwise, that most investment abuses are slipping through the cracks and that regulators are mostly "posing".
The below article sheds some light on the kind of information the public needs to learn about, so that they can stop being misled into a false sense of security in matters if investment protection. The article pertains to RCMP investigations not having the people power to do the job, and most securities commissions use the same excuse when seriously questioned............they just dont portray this truth to the public.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news05/05-041e.html
How ironic???
Sun, June 5, 2005
Dirty money tips ignored
Mounties fail to pursue one-third of financial sleuths' files, report says
By DEAN BEEBY, CP
The RCMP did not pursue more than a third of the money-laundering tips passed on by Canada's financial sleuthing agency, largely because the force lacked the manpower, says a newly released report.
The Mounties did not open investigations on 45 files turned over to them by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, better known as Fintrac, says the document.
The agency was established in 2000 to gather financial intelligence from banks and other institutions on potential money-laundering schemes. After careful analysis, Fintrac forwards information on the most suspicious transactions to the RCMP and other police forces. The agency also monitors terrorist financing.
'LIMITED RESOURCES'
An internal Fintrac report, obtained under the Access to Information Act, found the Mounties did not chase 45 of the 131 high-quality tips the agency had produced to the end of 2003. Virtually all of the cases not pursued were suspected schemes in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, where the force places most of its proceeds-of-crime investigators.
And about three-quarters of the abandoned tips were not investigated simply because the RCMP had "limited resources."
"There is no shortage of evidence against these individuals committing crime, just a shortage of investigators to bring all the criminals to justice," says the 31-page report from 2004.
The findings suggest the extent of money-laundering in Canada, most of which stems from drug trafficking, far exceeds the ability of the RCMP to investigate.
Fintrac found that the Mounties were abandoning almost half of the tips they were given in Canada's three biggest cities.
The report also showed that cases were much more likely to be followed up if the suspects' names were already in the Canadian Police Information Centre database, which contains criminal records of known offenders.
The value of the suspected money-laundering schemes appeared to have no bearing on whether the tip would be followed up. Six of the abandoned files were worth more than $5 million.
CRIMES UNKNOWN
The Mounties also tended to avoid files where the original crime that produced the allegedly laundered money was not known.
A spokeswoman for the Mounties said even though some disclosures from Fintrac are set aside, the information may still be useful at some future date.
The below article sheds some light on the kind of information the public needs to learn about, so that they can stop being misled into a false sense of security in matters if investment protection. The article pertains to RCMP investigations not having the people power to do the job, and most securities commissions use the same excuse when seriously questioned............they just dont portray this truth to the public.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news05/05-041e.html
How ironic???
Sun, June 5, 2005
Dirty money tips ignored
Mounties fail to pursue one-third of financial sleuths' files, report says
By DEAN BEEBY, CP
The RCMP did not pursue more than a third of the money-laundering tips passed on by Canada's financial sleuthing agency, largely because the force lacked the manpower, says a newly released report.
The Mounties did not open investigations on 45 files turned over to them by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, better known as Fintrac, says the document.
The agency was established in 2000 to gather financial intelligence from banks and other institutions on potential money-laundering schemes. After careful analysis, Fintrac forwards information on the most suspicious transactions to the RCMP and other police forces. The agency also monitors terrorist financing.
'LIMITED RESOURCES'
An internal Fintrac report, obtained under the Access to Information Act, found the Mounties did not chase 45 of the 131 high-quality tips the agency had produced to the end of 2003. Virtually all of the cases not pursued were suspected schemes in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, where the force places most of its proceeds-of-crime investigators.
And about three-quarters of the abandoned tips were not investigated simply because the RCMP had "limited resources."
"There is no shortage of evidence against these individuals committing crime, just a shortage of investigators to bring all the criminals to justice," says the 31-page report from 2004.
The findings suggest the extent of money-laundering in Canada, most of which stems from drug trafficking, far exceeds the ability of the RCMP to investigate.
Fintrac found that the Mounties were abandoning almost half of the tips they were given in Canada's three biggest cities.
The report also showed that cases were much more likely to be followed up if the suspects' names were already in the Canadian Police Information Centre database, which contains criminal records of known offenders.
The value of the suspected money-laundering schemes appeared to have no bearing on whether the tip would be followed up. Six of the abandoned files were worth more than $5 million.
CRIMES UNKNOWN
The Mounties also tended to avoid files where the original crime that produced the allegedly laundered money was not known.
A spokeswoman for the Mounties said even though some disclosures from Fintrac are set aside, the information may still be useful at some future date.
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