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A financial needs analysis is a document that an insurance professional must prepare before he has his clients take out an insurance policy. A FNA must contain all the information required by the Regulation respecting the pursuit of activities as a representative. It must include the policies the client holds, their features, the name of the insurers and any other necessary information such as income, financial balance sheet, number of dependents, personal and family obligations, etc.
For more information, click here.
An investor profile must be completed before securities are purchased. It must include the client’s age, occupation, annual income, net worth, level of investment knowledge and investment goals.
There is no set time for updating an investor profile, but we recommend an annual update as per industry practice.
Yes but, under the law, the client must be informed of the fees before the mandate is carried out.
The professionals duly authorized to act in the disciplines and registration categories under the surveillance of the Chambre de la sécurité financière are automatically members of the CSF.
The register thus contains the coordinates of some 32.000 members of the CSF who work in the disciplines and registration categories under its overseeing.
Maintained by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) on its website, this register allows the public to check whether a person or a business is entitled to pursue activities in the financial products and services sector.
To access the register, click here.
To verify whether a representative has ever had disciplinary sanction in his or her file, visit the Disciplinary decisions page.
It is your advisor’s job to suggest the best strategies for your situation, priorities and goals. representative you will be meeting, check whether he or she is a member in good standing of the Chambre de la sécurité financière, and whether he or she has all the required certifications for the practice. To check this information, click here.
If you do not have a name, you can do these checks after the meeting.
General questions
The members are:
- Mutual fund dealer representatives
- Financial planner
- Financial security advisors
- Group insurance and group annuity plans advisors
- Scholarship plan dealer representatives
For a description of each of these professionals, click here.
Professionals who are members of the CSF have undergone appropriate training under the supervision of the Autorité des marchés financiers before becoming members. Once their licence to practice has been issued, they are required to take continuing education courses to keep their knowledge up to date and to keep up to date with new requirements. The practice of members is supervised by the CSF. The CSF imposes ethical obligations on professionals so that their know-how is synonymous with the best practices in the financial products and services distribution industry. Consult the tool on the added value of a CSF member.
Thinking about taking up a career in the financial products and services industry (e.g.: insurance, securities or financial planning)? We are inviting you to review the profile of the professionals in the financial services industry by clicking here.
The Autorité des marchés financiers is the entity in charge of issuing the practice's rights. It will give you all the information on the skills required and the steps to follow to get your right to practise in the sectors or registration categories of your choice. Call the AMF at 1-877-525-0337 or visit its website at www.lautorite.qc.ca, “Becoming a professional” section.
The CSF cannot provide references from among its members. However, you can take references from people you know, or contact financial services firms or financial institutions, all of whom have advisors employed by or attached to their companies. Once you have obtained the names of a few advisors, contact the CSF so that we can do a disciplinary background check on the advisor you choose.
We invite you to read the Sample Power of Attorney prepared by the Groupe de travail pour la protection des personnes vulnérables (task force for the protection of vulnerable persons), which clearly explains the scope of a power of attorney.
The CSF's magazines, briefs, annual reports and other public documents are available in the Medias section.
The AMF regulates the financial products and services industry. It ensures that the Chambre de la sécurité financière fulfills its mission to protect consumers.
The CSF oversees the representatives’ business ethics and its members’ professional development.
The CSF is active on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Join the conversation by following our official pages!
The Sécurité financière magazine is specifically designed for CSF members, who receive it free of charge.
Unhappy with your advisor?
You must complete the Request for investigation Form and return it to the address indicated.
The investigation process begins with the receipt of a request from a consumer, consumer protection organization, a representative who is a CSF member, firms in the financial products and services industry or the Autorité des marchés financiers. The CSF’s syndic can also institute an investigation at his own discretion.
If there are adequate grounds, the syndic’s staff contact those involved in the file to gather information. All relevant documentation and statements are collected and the investigation occurs in complete confidentiality.
Subsequently, the results of the investigation are submitted to the syndic, who then decides whether or not to bring the matter before the CSF’s Disciplinary Committee (known as filing a disciplinary complaint), depending on the seriousness of the infraction or the level of evidence available. Administrative measures may still be taken even though the representative is not charged with anything.
If the matter is brought before the disciplinary committee, the latter hears the parties’ evidence and rules on the representative’s culpability and imposes appropriate sanction, if needed.
A complainant who is dissatisfied with the syndic’s decision to not bring the case before the Disciplinary Committee may file a private complaint or apply to the The Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal.
The disciplinary process is usually conducted as follows:
- Following an investigation, the syndic lodges a written complaint to the Disciplinary Committee.
- The Committee’s secretary serves the complaint on the representative.
- The representative appears in writing to declare whether or not he’s guilty.
- If the representative pleads guilty, the Committee usually holds one hearing to determine guilt and settle on a penalty.
- If the representative pleads not guilty, the Committee holds one hearing to decide the issue of guilt.
- The burden of proof to establish the representative’s guilt rests with the syndic.
- The Committee, at the end of the hearing and its deliberations, records its decision in writing and shows cause.
- If the representative is found guilty, a subsequent hearing is held to determine penalties.
- The representative may appeal the Disciplinary Committee’s decision before the Court of Quebec within 30 days after the decision is served.
Hearings are public and anyone can attend. The schedule of the roll of hearings is available here or under the heading “Ethics and Discipline / Disciplinary Committee”.
- If you are concerned or unhappy with your representative’s work: try to obtain details from the representative on the products he or she sold you. Explain what it is you are not happy with.
- Review your financial situation as well as your financial expectations or goals with him or her. Review your financial needs analysis (for insurance product) or your investor profile (for securities). The additional information provided by both parties will probably be enough to improve the situation.
- If you are still not happy, you can approach the firm your representative is associated with to try to speak with another representative or the firm’s manager.
- If the above steps have not yielded results, complete the Request for investigation Form, and send it to the Chambre de la sécurité financière.