P.E.I. investors better protected under new legislation, says regulator

Amendments to P.E.I.'s Securities Act provide the full toolkit that's needed to protect investors, says the regulator that oversees investment dealers in Canada.

Andrew Kriegler, CEO of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, points to two particular changes.

• Protection for IIROC from malicious or nuisance lawsuits.
• Improved ability to collect evidence, by making it mandatory to turn over telephone or bank records.

"Something that does happen from time to time across Canada, is that individuals go bad and they actually go so far as to steal from their clients," said Kriegler.

"Unfortunately it's very hard to prove that if you can't follow the trail of money."

A large percentage of clients who suffer from wrongdoing by investment dealers are seniors, he said. Forty per cent of the enforcement cases involve seniors and 30 per cent of the prosecutions.

Over the last two years, IIROC has secured better legal authority to protect investors in eight provinces and three territories.

More P.E.I. news