OBSI reports investment industry complaints surged in Q2

Investment-related complaints to the Ombudservice for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) came in well above average in the second quarter.

OBSI reported that investment industry complaints in Q2 were 19% above their average levels for the past eight quarters.

Complaints involving Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) firms were 24% above the eight-quarter average, and cases with fund dealer firms were 20% higher than the average.

For the other investment industry sectors — portfolio managers, exempt market dealers and scholarship plan dealers — Q2 complaints were in line with their historical averages.

As for the sources of investment complaints, suitability remains the top issue, followed by fee disclosure, product information disclosure/misrepresentation and service issues.

OBSI noted that service-related complaints were up by 57% in the second quarter, compared with the eight-quarter average.

On the banking side, complaints in the second quarter were 7% above the average of the past eight quarters.

OBSI reported that complaints about bank service issues were 60% above the historical average in Q2, and that fraud remains the top source of banking complaints. Fraud complaints were 50% higher than the eight-quarter average.

Additionally, OBSI announced that it has a launched a new online portal that provides firms with live access to data on their active and closed complaints, the ability to upload documents for active investigations and the ability to view historical case data, among other things.

OBSI plans to launch a consumer version in 2020 to give clients similar online access to information about their cases.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.