The delay between the time regulators reach a decision and report the decision has one fund dealer firm incensed.

The company, Toronto’s Monarch Delaney Financial Inc., ran afoul of the Ontario Securities Commission when its compliance officer was terminated in good standing, but there were no other registered officers able to take the position of compliance officer at the firm. After a hearing, the OSC decided to place terms and conditions on the firm’s registration — cease trading it until a new compliance officer was installed, giving it a deadline of July 30.

That information was reported in the OSC bulletin and on the OSC Web site July 2. However, at that point the issue had already been resolved. Jackie Boddaert, Monarch Delaney’s president and secretary, says the cease trade effectively lasted just four hours, from the afternoon of June 25 to about 11:00 am on June 28, and that the firm was soon back to business as usual.

“For a company that’s been in business for 20 years we had four hours where we were requested not to trade because the OSC has had [the original candidate’s] licence application for close to five months; and we resolved that issue on Monday morning at 11:00. I had a notice from the OSC saying, ‘The issues are resolved, no problem. We understand your interim plan, and we’re onboard,” Boddaert says.

The firm appointed Mary Rygiel, an employee of a The Investment Shop Inc., a firm with which Monarch Delaney is currently in the process of merging, as compliance officer; and, the OSC accepted her in the role.

The OSC disputes the duration of the cease trade, saying that it was imposed June 23, but it agrees that it was lifted June 28. David Gilkes, manager registrant regulation at the OSC, who ruled in this case, insists the OSC did not place these terms and conditions on the firm’s registration lightly. “Had the [original] person that had applied [to take over as compliance officer] been suitably qualified we never would have put the terms and conditions on the company,” he says.

Gilkes notes that the OSC staff turned down the firm’s original candidate as the replacement compliance officer, claiming he was unqualified. He has asked for an opportunity to be heard, but this hearing has yet to take place. Gilkes says that OSC staff is preparing its submission on this issue.

“I think the issue was we were waiting on approval of an officer [whose name] we’d put forward for a number of months, trying to pre-plan for someone that was planning to exit the business — and we still don’t have any word back from the OSC one way or another. So we took the proactive step of asking that Mary Rygiel be approved. And that was fine,” Boddaert says.

In the meantime, the regulator has made it clear that dealers must have compliance officers.