Why?
In 2021, the Client Focused Reform legislation was passed by the Canadian Securities Administrators where all investment dealers were required to enhance the protection of older and vulnerable clients by taking reasonable measures to obtain in written form the information of the Trusted Contact Person.
The Trusted Contact Person is an individual we may contact in accordance with your written consent.
The Trusted Contact person is not recognized as a legal representative and is therefore not authorized to conduct transactions in your brokerage account or make any decisions whatsoever on your behalf.
Your advisor will get in touch with the trusted contact person:
- If they notice signs of financial exploitation1, or vulnerability or if they notice signs that you lack the mental capacity to make decisions involving financial matters;
- To confirm the name and contact information of your legal representative, or;
- To confirm your contact information if we are unable to communicate with you using the information we have on file.
In their communications with the trusted contact person, your advisor must comply with the privacy policy put in place by FDP for the protection of your personal information.
How?
You can designate a trusted contact person in two ways:
- By adding the information to your profile directly in your FDP secure account, or;
- By completing the form for this purpose provided by your advisor.
Note that you can withdraw or change a trusted contact person at any time, and that you are not required to designate one.
Conditions of Temporary Hold
- We will place a temporary hold on your accounts where no transaction withdrawals or transfer out of your account can occur if we believe that any of the following apply: You are a vulnerable client2;
- You are financially exploited, the exploitation has occurred, has been attempted or will be attempted;
- You lead us to believe that you do not have the mental capacity to make decisions involving financial matters.
If a temporary hold is placed on your account, we will:
- Document the facts and reasons that caused us to place the hold on your account;
- As soon as possible, provide a written notice of the temporary hold on your account and its underlying reasons;
- Review the relevant facts after placing the hold on your account on a frequent basis to determine if the hold should continue.
- Within 30 days of placing the temporary hold on your account and until the hold is revoked, we will do the following:
- Revoke the temporary hold,
- Provide you with a notice that the hold will continue and the reasons for the decision.
You may revoke or change the Trusted Contact Person at any time, and you are not obligated to name one.
- Financial exploitation means the use, control of, deprivation of the use, or control of assets by an individual or company through undue influence, unlawful conduct, or another wrongful act,
- A vulnerable person is one who might have an illness, impairment, disability, or aging-process limitation that places them at risk of financial exploitation.
