Steps to qualify financial advisors too little, too late: Dale Jackson
BNN Bloomberg
If you want to work as an electrician, a plumber, or even a mortician in Ontario, you need a license. It might be shocking to learn the same requirement does not apply for all financial advisors – at least not yet.
After years of foot-dragging, Ontario has granted the national self-regulatory investment body (Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization or CIRO) the authority to force its estimated 47,000 professional members to earn the title of “financial advisor.”
Ontario, home to the bulk of the nation’s finance industry, was the first province outside Quebec to pass legislation regulating the use of titles in 2019. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have since followed.
The new rules will require wannabe advisors to meet minimum standards of education and abide by a code of conduct. While that might seem basic, forcing financial advisors to be qualified is especially vital for Canadians having to take more and more responsibility for financing their own retirements as guaranteed company pension plans – and workplace pension plans in general – have been drying up since the 1980s.
