Publications

March 1, 2013

The Court of Appeal confirms that the policyholder and the insurer may agree to modify the provisions of a group insurance contract without consulting the participants

The decision of the Court of Appeal in the La Capitale case has been expected since February 2012 when the Superior Court dismissed the class action taken against an insurer who, with the consent of the policyholder, had unilaterally modified the waiver of premiums clause in a group insurance (…)

March 1, 2013

Domestic Systematically Important Banks

On March 26, 2013, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (“OSFI”), the Canadian bank regulator, issued an Advisory in which it identified the banks considered to be systematically important for Canada in accordance with the framework set out by the Basel Committee on (…)

February 1, 2013

OSFI’s new expectations with respect to the governance of federally-regulated financial institutions

The quality of corporate governance practices increasingly represents a key factor to maintaining the trust of depositors, policyholders and most stakeholders who are active on capital markets. Considering the unique features of financial institutions and the risks arising from their (…)

February 1, 2013

Interpretation of the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada: The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada provides some clarification

This publication was authored by Luc Thibaudeau, former partner of Lavery and now judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Québec, District of Longueuil. On February 13, 2013, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (the “Agency”) issued a new guidance (the “Guidance”) to clarify the (…)

January 1, 2013

Relaxing of the liquidity coverage ratio under Basel III

On January 6, 2013, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced that it was relaxing the liquidity rules that will be applied to banks beginning in 2015. The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (“GHOS”), the oversight body of the Basel Committee, then (…)

December 1, 2012

Francization – Bill No 14 amending the Charter of the French language

This publication was authored by Luc Thibaudeau, former partner of Lavery and now judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Québec, District of Longueuil. The title of this newsletter gives a good summary of the explanatory notes that serve as an introduction to Bill 14, entitled An Act to amend (…)

December 1, 2012

AMF Investigations: The duty to answer an investigator and his jurisdiction to rule on objections (continued)

With regard to our In Fact and In Law Express newsletter of July 2012, entitled ‘‘AMF Investigations: The duty to answer an investigator and his jurisdiction to rule on objections’’, please be informed that, on December 20, 2012, the Supreme Court dismissed Fournier’s (…)

November 1, 2012

New consumer protection measures for prepaid credit cards

This publication was authored by Luc Thibaudeau, former partner of Lavery and now judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Québec, District of Longueuil. On October 24, 2012, the Harper government announced its intentions to enact new regulations to protect consumers who use prepaid credit cards (…)

October 1, 2012

Investment and Financial Security Advisors: Respect your clients’ goals and document your files!

Two recent decisions of the Court of Appeal remind us of the duty on investment advisors and financial security advisors to know their client and the correlative duty of information. In both cases, the Court of Appeal held that the advisor had breached his duty to know his client, assess the (…)

July 1, 2012

AMF Investigations: The duty to answer an investigator and his jurisdiction to rule on objections (continued see In Fact and In Law Express, December 2012)

The Securities Act [SA] allows the Autorité des marchés financiers [the “AMF”] to order investigations to ensure compliance with the SA and to repress contraventions which may be committed. This is the context in which the Court of Appeal handed down a decision on June 22, 2012 going to (…)

March 1, 2012

E-Distribution of Insurance Products: the AMF Wants Your Input!

On February 24, 2012, the Autorité des marchés financiers published, on its website, a notice of consultation entitled Notice and Request and Comment on Internet Insurance Offerings in Québec.This process follows the AMF’s analysis, initiated a few years ago of the issues relating to (…)

December 1, 2011

OCRCVM v. Beaudoin and AMF (C.A.) – Courts of justice cannot homologate a disciplinary decision in the absence of a specific legislative provision to that effect

The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC, formerly known as the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA)) is a self-regulatory organization recognized by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), which mainly deals with disciplinary complaints against its members. For (…)

November 1, 2011

Supervising the Use of Social Networking Websites by Financial Sector Intermediaries

The use of social media, discussion forums and other websites for business purposes, as a means of communicating with the public, raises increasingly significant compliance issues for regulated entities of the financial sector. Such use may expose registered or certified representatives and, (…)