FAIR Canada veut un organisme dédié à combattre la fraude

8 mars 2011

FAIR Canada veut un organisme dédié à combattre la fraude

Les administrations publiques, les organismes de réglementation et les autorités policières doivent unir leurs forces pour améliorer la prévention, la rapidité de détection et les poursuites en matière de fraude financière et pour mieux indemniser les victimes de fraudes liées aux placements. 

Voilà l'une des conclusions que fait la Fondation canadienne pour l'avancement des droits des investisseurs (FAIR Canada) dans un rapport intitulé A Decade of Financial Scandals publié vendredi.

« Au cours de la dernière décennie, la fraude financière a touché environ 10 % des Canadiens. Le système actuel est inefficace pour protéger les consommateurs ou punir les fraudeurs », déplore l'organisme par voie de communiqué.

Pour remédier à la situation, FAIR Canada propose la création d'un organisme ayant pour seule mission de combattre la fraude liée aux placements.

« Les investisseurs doivent avoir confiance dans notre régime de réglementation et nos marchés financiers, et cela n'est possible que s'il existe un système efficace de prévention et de détection des fraudes, de poursuite des fraudeurs et d'indemnisation des victimes », dit Ilana Singer, directrice adjointe de FAIR Canada.

Dans son rapport, FAIR Canada a étudié 15 scandales canadiens dans le domaine des placements survenus de 1999-2009. Les principales fraudes étaient des stratagèmes à la Ponzi, pour lesquels le rendement des uns est payé avec les investissements des autres, des détournements de fonds et des cas de mauvaise tenue des livres et gestion des comptes.

Dans les affaires étudiées, 2 % seulement des pertes encourues par les investisseurs ont été récupérées grâce aux deux fonds d'indemnisation qui existent au Canada. Le document révèle aussi qu'environ 20 % des pertes des investisseurs mettaient en cause des sociétés ou des personnes qui n'étaient pas inscrites auprès d'un organisme canadien de réglementation des valeurs mobilières. Quelque 60 % des sommes perdues ont touché des investisseurs qui faisaient affaire avec une société inscrite directement réglementée par un organisme de réglementation des valeurs mobilières, mais qui n'était pas membre d'un organisme d'autoréglementation ni un participant à un fonds d'indemnisation. 

Source : Finance-investissement.com

FAIR Canada Releases Report on Financial Scandals 

FAIR Canada today issued a report entitled "A Decade of Financial Scandals" calling for government and regulatory action to improve prevention, detection and prosecution of financial fraud and to better compensate victims of investment frauds.

"The Canadian regulatory system is complex and fragmented. There are thirteen provincial and territorial securities regulators and two national SROs. In addition, there are many other provincial and federal regulators involved," said Ermanno Pascutto, Executive Director of FAIR Canada. "When it comes to investigation and prosecution of financial fraud, the complexity and fragmentation is far worse. With this bewildering array of regulators, investigation agencies and prosecutors, no one agency has ultimate responsibility for combating investment fraud."

"We make wide-ranging recommendations calling on the Federal and Provincial Governments and regulators to take coordinated action to combat financial fraud” said Mr. Pascutto. "Financial fraud has affected some 10% of Canadians and the system is simply not effective at protecting consumers, punishing fraudsters, or compensating victims."

FAIR Canada studied a cross-section of fifteen cases of financial fraud selected from across the country based on the high profile coverage they garnered, the number of investors affected and the significant amount of losses incurred. Findings from the review of the fifteen financial scams include:

Approximately 78% of the losses in the fifteen cases involved firms or individuals registered with securities regulators.

Some 17% of the losses were with registered firms that were also members of an SRO (IIROC or MFDA) which were also backed by a compensation fund.

Approximately 61% of the losses were with registered firms directly regulated by a securities regulator but that were not members of an SRO. Non-SRO registrants are not backed by a compensation fund in the event of insolvency. Investors with non-SRO registrants sustained higher losses and were not likely to recover most of their money.

Some 22% of the losses were a result of dealing with persons who were not registered with a securities regulator and investors often lost all of their money.

Even though there are two compensation funds (CIPF and IPC) in Canada that compensate investors in event of insolvency of investment firms and mutual fund dealers, the funds only compensated 2% of the financial losses because most of the investment scams involved firms that were not members of the compensation fund and related SRO and of the four that were, three fell outside the scope of coverage.

The registrants that appear to be the highest risk to retail investors are not members of an SRO and have no compensation fund.

Recommendations

Key recommendations in the report address fraud prevention, earlier detection of fraud, more effective prosecution and better compensation for victims. 

Fraud prevention – We recommend that Government and regulators launch a national education campaign to educate consumers on avoiding financial fraud and that regulators provide a comprehensive national database to check registration, disciplinary history, SRO membership, etc. We also recommend that investment firms be made responsible for misconduct by rogue advisors even when they sell non firm products, that registrants have a professional duty to report misconduct by other registrants, and that financial incentives be considered to encourage reporting of fraud to regulators and police.

Earlier detection of fraud – FAIR Canada recommends that regulators have more resources dedicated to fraud detection. We recommend that securities regulators engage in more proactive measures to detect and prevent fraud including reviewing print and other media advertising of investment services by unregistered persons and advertising of unrealistic returns by registered persons. We also recommend that regulators reform the "exempt offerings" and "accredited investor" exemptions in securities law, and audit high-risk exempt offer filings.

Prosecution – Canada needs a new expert national agency under the Attorney General of Canada dedicated to combating financial fraud.

Compensation – FAIR Canada recommends that all registrants be required to be members of an SRO with an existing compensation fund. Regulators should have consistent statutory powers to order compensation for victims of financial fraud, and also have a clear mandate to seek compensation for victims of fraud.

Cases Reviewed

FAIR Canada reviewed some of the largest and most high profile securities-related scandals from 1999 through the end of 2009. Cases were included from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Québec. The cases reviewed included scandals that ranged from Ponzi-type schemes, misleading or partial investor information and the outright misappropriation or mismanagement of assets and funds.

Source : FAIR Canada