TD Asset Management Inc. has been exempted from the suitability requirements allowing it to establish a new self-directed distribution channel for certain pooled funds.

In a decision reported in today’s OSC Bulletin, regulators have granted TDAM an exemption from suitability requirements for accredited clients purchasing units of a Treasury Management Fund without advice.

The decision notes that TD proposes to establish a new distribution channel for the Treasury Management Funds by providing its accredited investor clients with the opportunity to acquire units directly without any recommendations or advice. “The self directed channel is intended to provide accredited investor clients with an alternative way in which to manage their cash inventories utilizing a filer account that is comparable to a discount brokerage account,” it says.

The regulators granted the relief subject to several conditions, including: that the firm doesn’t provide any advice; that it has written policies and procedures in place to ensure that it doesn’t provide advice; that the clients acknowledge that they won’t seek advice; that the firm doesn’t compensate its registered reps on the basis of transactional values; and, that the order-entry systems and records of the firm are capable of labeling all account documentation relating to self-directed accounts.