Following a settlement hearing, the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) accepted a settlement agreement fining Investia Financial Services Inc. dealing representative, Nancy Carol Meyers, $27,000 plus costs in the amount of $2,500 after Meyers admitted she photocopied signature pages, altered forms without obtaining client initials to authorize the changes and obtained and used pre-signed forms.
Registered in the securities industry since March 1988, Meyers specifically admits that between February 2015 and April 2016 she photocopied signatures for four clients to complete 10 additional forms for those clients. Between January 2014 and January 2018, she altered eight account forms for seven different clients without obtaining the client’s initials, and, between January 2013 and May 2019, the representative obtained, possessed and in some instances used 88 pre-signed forms for 36 different clients.
In an unusual move, the MFDA took the representative’s husband’s disability into account when levying its penalty: “The respondent works out of a home office with her husband GM, another approved person registered with the member, and services clients with GM under a joint representative code. As a result of his significant physical disabilities, the respondent’s husband is reliant on the respondent to assist him in servicing client accounts. Under these unique circumstances, staff is not seeking a suspension.”
In addition to the fine, the Hamilton, Ontario area representative must also successfully complete the Ethics and Professional Conduct Course offered by the IFSE Institute or an industry course acceptable to MFDA staff within 12 months.
