The head of the new industry association that merges the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA), says it will not force any firm to change its basic foundations.
“Its goal is to knock down arbitrary archaic restrictions that don’t make any sense in the world we live in today, but to do so by providing optionality. If you don’t want to change your [firm’s] business model, then don’t. We’re not going to make you. And I think that’s a key distinction,” Andrew Kriegler told the Investment Funds Institute of Canada’s annual meeting on Monday.
Kriegler said a number of unnamed firms that have both a mutual fund and investment dealer want to integrate the two sides. Then again, he said other firms don’t think merging the two make any sense. “We’re not going to tell them how to run their business model.”
The new association’s goal, he said, is to make the industry better for investors, with no one size fitting all investors’ needs and goals.
“This is a time of change and you can revisit things in a time of change that you wouldn’t be able to revisit very easily when you were in the status quo.”
Effective Jan. 3, 2023, the new SRO will also enhance investor protection by having a separate investor office and a dedicated Investor Advisory Panel.
