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by Mike Caswell

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization of Canada has begun proceedings against PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. after the firm failed to question "large and atypical" redemptions in the account of an 85-year-old client. According to CIRO, a PFSL branch manager closed out a client's entire account, in the amount of $987,562. Two weeks later, that same manager deposited $800,000 of the client's money in accounts in the names of the manager and his wife, CIRO says.

The allegations are contained in a notice of hearing that CIRO released on Thursday, Sept. 4. The case stems from the actions of a branch manager, only identified as "Approved Person PE," that took place in March, 2023. The client at issue had been with PFSL for 12 years and was living in a retirement home.

The case, as set out by CIRO, involved the manager processing redemptions for substantially all of the assets in the client's account over a period of six days. According to CIRO, nobody at PFSL questioned the transactions. "Notwithstanding the unusual size and nature of the redemptions, PFSL failed to query the redemptions to determine why Client PK was closing his accounts and failed to contact Client PK directly to ensure the redemptions were in accordance with his instructions," the notice states.

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