SYMPOSIUM

“I don’t think it’s clear what’s good compliance: where’s the line between providing support to your client and evidencing the advice provided?”

An August 2023 report from CIRO and the CSA found just 20% of 172 surveyed investment dealers, fund dealers, portfolio managers, and exempt market dealers were handling conflicts of interest according to the CFRs’ standards.

“I think that is evidence that this is a journey we’re all on together,” Kriegler said of the report, adding that CIRO was sympathetic to the challenges firms and advisors face.

Kriegler said that as CIRO integrates the two selfregulatory organizations, it is seeking to harmonize the regulatory approach, advance the number of firms registered simultaneously as mutual fund and investment dealers, and streamline the process for evidencing compliance with regulations.

“One of the ways we have to make the system better is to enable more access to advice. And the only way we’re going to get there is by being able to make the regulatory system scale, the compliance system scale, the advice delivery scale, and the technology scale,” he said.

Jean-Paul Bureaud, executive director of FAIR Canada, credited CIRO with prioritizing its Investor Advisory Panel and its Office of the Investor.