Canadian securities regulators have approved new complaint-handling rules proposed by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.

In Friday’s OSC Bulletin, the Ontario Securities Commission announced that it has approved the new rules and rule amendments required to implement new complaint-handling standards by the IIROC and the MFDA. The other regulators have ruled similarly.

The objective of the proposed amendments is to establish minimum requirements for the client complaint handling process, and to harmonize them between the self-regulatory organizations and the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Among other things, the IIROC rule requires firms to appoint a designated complaints officer, establish written procedures for dealing with complaints, it imposes deadlines (complaints must be acknowledged in five days, and clients must receive a substantive response in 90 days), and it prohibits settlement agreements from imposing confidentiality restrictions.

IE