The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) says that it will be making a series of changes designed to improve the time it takes to resolve complaints.
OBSI announced another instance of a firm refusing one of its compensation recommendations Wednesday. In this case, the firm, Northern Securities Inc., was suspended by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) earlier this year over capital deficiencies.
OBSI said that in these sorts of cases — where it’s dealing with a complaint about a firm that is winding down its operations, is suspended from its self-regulatory organization (SRO), and will not pay any recommended compensation — and, OBSI’s investigation report is not yet finalized, OBSI will announce its findings in the case, but will not conduct any further work on the complaint. Instead, if no conclusion has been reached, the file will simply be closed, it says.
“This is one of a series of efficiency measures OBSI will be announcing in the coming weeks designed to improve the average time it takes to resolve complaints,” it says.
In terms of the Northern Securities case, OBSI said that the firm has refused its recommendation to compensate a couple of retail investor clients, noting that it did not uphold most of the investors’ complaint in this case. Although it did find that their advisor recommended a bond that was unsuitable given their low-risk, income-producing investment objectives.
As a result, it found that the firm should be responsible for their losses, and it recommended compensation of $16,022, which it says the firm refused to pay.