The Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA) of Canada approved a settlement agreement this week between MFDA staff and Sun Life Investment Services (Canada) Inc. advisor, Walter Montina.
In the settlement agreement, the Lethbridge, Alberta representative admits he altered information on an account form that had been previously signed by a client and used in a previous transaction, in order to process a new transaction in the client’s account. Montina or one of his assistants also used altered account forms 14 times for nine different clients without having the clients initial the alterations. Alterations to account forms included alterations to dates, account numbers, fund names and fund codes. Finally, Montina admits that he or one of his assistants obtained, possessed and in some cases used 29 pre-signed account forms for 19 different clients.
No evidence of any client loss
Some of the blank, pre-signed account forms were first discovered by Sun Life in January 2018. The company subsequently commenced and investigation and audit of all client files maintained by Montina and his assistants. During Sun Life’s investigation, no clients reported any concerns. The MFDA further says there is no evidence of any client loss or that the transactions were unauthorized.
Sun Life issued a warning letter to Montina and placed him on close supervision for eight months in total. The MFDA says there is no evidence that the advisor received any financial benefit from engaging in the misconduct beyond any fees or commissions that he would ordinarily be entitled to receive if the transactions were carried out in the proper manner.
Upon accepting the settlement agreement, the MFDA fined Montina $14,500 plus costs of $2,500.
