A Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) hearing panel has fined Xinyi (Millie) Pu $5,000, plus costs in the amount of $2,500 after Pu admitted she used a vulnerable client’s account statement as marketing material in an effort to increase her client base.
Registered between August 2018 and April 2021 as a dealing representative with Investors Group Financial Services Inc., Pu has since that time been registered in Ontario with Investors Group Securities, an Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) member firm.
The personal information posted to her 850 contacts on WeChat, included her client’s surname, one given name, part of their address, their account’s opening value, redemptions for the quarter and the current value of that client’s Investors Group account on the date she posted the statement.
“In the settlement agreement, the respondent admitted that on February 20, 2020, she posted a portion of a client’s quarterly investment statement to a social media and messaging application without the client’s consent, in order to promote her profile in the financial services industry,” the MFDA states in its announcement about the settlement agreement reached with Pu.
For failing to maintain the information in confidence, the firm sent Pu a warning letter and transferred the client’s account to another approved person at that client’s request. In addition to the fine and costs assessed, the MFDA also ordered Pu to successfully complete the Ethics and Professional Conduct Course offered by the IFSE Institute or an alternative industry course approved of by MFDA staff, within six months.
