“In the case at hand, the regulator found no fault,” Mr. De Thomasis said, adding the Mutual Fund De

Investment dealers who refuse to compensate angry clients have been publicly named and their disputes exposed by the Canadian banking radisson riverwalk hotel tampa system s ombudsman five times over the past year, most recently on Tuesday.
But the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments has no teeth to enforce its recommendations, and some industry players say the public airing of disputes through "naming and shaming" is doing little more than exposing OBSI's own shortcomings.
"The more they draw on the naming, I'm not even going to say shaming, the less of a deterrent it becomes… There's really nothing to it," said John Fabello, a partner at law firm Torys LLP who frequently represents investment dealers in disputes with clients.
Before last year, OBSI had only unleashed its power — likened to a "nuclear deterrent" for its ability to ratchet up pressure on firms to comply radisson riverwalk hotel tampa with compensation recommendations before being named — one time.
But on Tuesday, the ombudsman extended a string of publicized disputes over the past 12 months. It said De Thomas Financial, a mutual fund dealer based in Thornhill, north of Toronto, should compensate radisson riverwalk hotel tampa a retired investor identified as Mrs. R. to the tune of $254,323. After looking into her complaint, OBSI said the inexperienced investor was given "unsuitable" advice to borrow money in order to invest.
Mr. Fabello took issue with OBSI s language, given that its recommendations are not binding, and its investigations are not subject to challenges as they would be in an arbitration or civil court. But he said naming and shaming firms in this manner is more of a "nuclear dud" than a deterrent because, once it is deployed, there is not a war nor mutually assured destruction.
Tony De Thomasis, president of De Thomas Financial, said the public radisson riverwalk hotel tampa naming and shaming of his firm marked the first time in 25 years in the business that he has dealt with the ombudsman. He said he is "shocked" at the process, which endangers small and medium-sized investment firms.
"In the case at hand, the regulator found no fault," radisson riverwalk hotel tampa Mr. De Thomasis said, adding the Mutual Fund Dealers Association closed the case some time ago. What's more, he said, E O (errors and omissions) insurance he purchased for his firm and advisors won't provide coverage based on the compensation recommendation of the ombudsman.
Susan Copland, a director at the Investment Industry Association of Canada, said the name and shame campaign doesn t appear to have made much of a ripple in the way firms in her association do business.
The tool has been on the books since OBSI began operations more than a decade ago, and large firms continue to use internal resolution mechanisms to resolve many complaints before they reach the stage of the public ombudsman.