MUTUAL FUND DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Client Complaint Information
Clients of a mutual fund dealer who are not satisfied with a financial product or service have a right to make a complaint and to seek resolution of the problem. If you have a complaint, these are some of the steps you can take.
- Your complaint should first be explained to your financial advisor. The person who sold you the product or service will solve most problems quickly.
- Contact your mutual fund dealer. Member firms are responsible to you, the investor, for monitoring the actions of their representatives to ensure that they are in compliance with the legislation, rules and guidelines governing their activities.
Some problems are easily solved by a phone call. Some matters can be resolved through the Branch Manager. The dealer’s Compliance Department will investigate any complaint that you initiate in writing and respond back to you with the results of their investigation.
Contact the Mutual Fund Dealers Associations of Canada (MFDA), which is the selfregulatory organization in Canada to which your mutual fund dealer belongs. The MFDA investigates complaints about mutual fund dealers and their representatives, and takes enforcement action where appropriate. There is no cost to clients for referring a complaint to the MFDA. The MFDA can be contacted:
- By telephone in Toronto at (416) 361-6332, or toll free at 1-888-466-6332,
- By e-mail at complaints@mfda.ca , or
- In writing, using the complaint form which is available on the MFDA website at www.mfda.ca
Contact the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), an organization independent of the MFDA, government, and the financial services industry. OBSI provides an independent and impartial process for the investigation and resolution of complaints about the provision of financial services to clients. OBSI will investigate your complaint only if you have first exhausted your firm’s internal complaint-handling processes. OBSI can make a non-binding recommendation that your firm compensate you (up to $350,000) if it determines that you have been treated unfairly, taking into account the criteria of good financial services and business practice, relevant codes of practice or conduct, industry regulation and the law. The OBSI process is free of charge and is confidential. OBSI can be contacted:
- by telephone in Toronto at (416) 287-2877, or toll free at 1-888-451-4519; or
- by e-mail at ombudsman@obsi.ca .
- Retaining a lawyer to assist with the complaint.
SUMMARY OF ARTECH ASSET ADVISORY SERVICES INC. COMPLAINT HANDLING PROCEDURES
ARTECH Asset Advisory Services Inc. has procedures in place to handle any written or verbal complaints received from clients in a fair and prompt manner. This is a summary of those procedures, which we provide to new clients and clients who have filed a complaint.
The Client Complaint Information Form
We also provide new clients and clients who complain with separate information called the Client Complaint Information Form (“CCIF”) that provides general information about their options for making a complaint.
How to File a Complaint with ARTECH Asset Advisory Services Inc.
Clients wishing to complain to ARTECH Asset Advisory Services Inc. may make their complaint to our head office by contacting Blaine St. Arnault, President. All complaints are forwarded to qualified compliance or supervisory personnel to be handled. We encourage clients to make their complaint in writing or by email1 where possible. Where clients have difficulty putting their complaint in writing, they should advise us so that we can provide assistance. For confidentiality reasons, we will only deal with the client or another individual who has the client’s express written authorization to deal with us.
Complaint Handling Procedures
We will acknowledge receipt of complaints promptly, generally within five business days. We review all complaints fairly, taking into account all relevant documents and statements obtained from the client, our records, our representatives, other staff members and any other relevant source. Once our review is complete we provide clients with our response, which will be in writing if the complaint was made in writing. Our response may be an offer to resolve your complaint, a denial of the complaint with reasons or another appropriate response. Where the complaint relates to certain serious allegations 2, our initial acknowledgement will include copies of this summary and the CCIF. Our response will summarize your complaint, our findings and will contain a reminder about your options with the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments.
We will generally provide our response within ninety days, unless we are waiting for additional information from you, or the case is novel or very complicated.
We will respond to communications you send us after the date of our response to the extent necessary to implement a resolution or to address any new issues or information you provide.
SETTLEMENTS
If we offer you a financial settlement, we may ask you to sign a release and waiver for legal reasons.
Contacting ARTECH Asset Advisory Services Inc.
Clients may contact us at any time to provide further information or to inquire as to the status of their complaint, by contacting the individual handling their complaint or by contacting Blaine St. Arnault, President.
- Clients who choose to communicate by email should be aware of possible confidentiality issues regarding internet communications.
- As defined in the Policies of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada of which ARTECH is a Member.
