IIROC fines Laurentian Bank $250K for failures in trading supervision

A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has fined Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. $250,000 for supervision failures, the regulator said in a release on Friday.

The Montreal-based firm admitted that it failed to implement and maintain an adequate trading supervision system and failed to comply with its trading supervision obligations, a settlement agreement said.

During a regulatory review in 2015, IIROC’s trading conduct compliance staff found “significant deficiencies” in Laurentian’s trading supervision system, the agreement said.

A subsequent review in April 2017 found that the deficiencies hadn’t been addressed, and identified additional ones regarding best execution compliance.

By the end of 2017, Laurentian had addressed and corrected a number of the findings, but the remainder couldn’t be addressed in a reasonable timeframe without help, the agreement said.

As as result, in May 2018, IIROC imposed terms and conditions on Laurentian, including the hiring of a compliance consultant, the implementation of a remedial action plan to strengthen the oversight system and targeted reviews.

During the reviews, IIROC found that the plan had been successful and the deficiencies had been corrected, the agreement said.

In addition to the fine, Laurentian Bank must pay costs of $25,000.

For full details, read the settlement agreement.