The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada will be making a series of changes to its complaint reporting system to improve the tracking and management of complaints, IIROC said Thursday.

IIROC said that while dealers’ general reporting obligations remain the same, the changes are being made to the details of the information reported on the Complaints and Settlement Reporting System (ComSet).

IIROC will now require firms to report client information, including client’s name, address, date of birth, account type, account numbers, and any trading authorities on the account. Additionally, dealers will have the ability to add further details about the specific event being reported.

“The improved detail and flexibility in ComSet reporting will ensure that complaints are counted only once, avoiding over-recording of complaints by IIROC in instances where a complaint is entered on ComSet and also reported directly to IIROC by the client. The proposed changes will therefore serve to enhance the accuracy of information reported via ComSet,” IIROC said.

The requirement to report the new, additional details will only apply to new entries filed on the ComSet system after March 1. Reports filed prior to March 1, will not have to be updated to reflect the new system enhancements. The use of ComSet’s new reporting details capability will become mandatory on March 1.

Other changes to ComSet include:

• the ability for dealers to select a year and quarter for the event activity being reported;

• exact settlement amounts are to be reported instead of ranges;

• supporting documents requested by IIROC can be submitted on ComSet and attached to reports;

• branch and registration information will now be automatically populated from the National Registration Database;

• all pending events for a dealer will now be shown on the dealer welcome screen rather than only customer complaint events, which is what is currently shown; and

• enhanced search and reporting functions that allow dealers to review their ComSet filings.

ComSet is also being changed to reflect the new requirements on dealers under the IIROC’s new complaint handling rule, which comes into effect on February 1. This rule requires that dealers generally provide to clients a substantive response to a complaint within 90 calendar days from the date of the complaint. ComSet has been enhanced to alert the dealer when: 80 days have passed since the date of a complaint; and, 91 days have passed since the date of the complaint.

Where a firm is unable to meet the 90 day deadline, the firm will be required to report through ComSet the reason for the delay in responding to the client and the anticipated new target date for responding to the client’s complaint.

IE