The New Brunswick Securities Commission has ordered Baskin Financial Services Inc. to pay an administrative penalty of $35,000, $3,600 in past registration fees plus costs of $750 for providing investment advice and portfolio management services without being registered with the commission.

The firm also agreed to immediately seek proper registration under the New Brunswick Securities Act.

Baskin Financial is an Ontario-based corporation that is currently registered to provide portfolio management and investment counsel in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia. The NBSC said that its investigation found that over the period 2004 – 2006, the firm was approached by a number of New Brunswick residents to act as their securities advisor and portfolio manager. Baskin agreed to provide the services even though they were not registered with the commission, it said.

“Registration is one of the fundamentals of ensuring integrity of the capital markets”, says Rick Hancox, executive director of the commission. “Registration provides investors with the confidence that their dealers and advisers meet a prescribed set of standards for suitability, financial stability and competence.”

The commission said that Baskin acknowledged its failure to register is a violation of New Brunswick securities laws and that it fully cooperated with the commission’s investigation. No investors were harmed as a result of its failure to register and there is no evidence to suggest that services rendered to the New Brunswick investors were inappropriate or improper, the regulator said. Additionally, the firm has undertaken to immediately seek full compliance with New Brunswick securities law.

The order was issued after a hearing was held before a commission panel. The firm consented to the settlement agreement that was presented to the commission.