A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has found that Natalie St-Amant violated IIROC rules when she failed to observe high standards of ethics and conduct relating to transactions made in her personal account and in some of her client accounts.

The panel will meet at a future date to determine the appropriate penalty. The penalty hearing is open to the public, unless the panel orders otherwise. Its decision and reasons will be made available at www.iiroc.ca.

Specifically, the panel found that St-Amant engaged in conduct unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest, contrary to IIROC Rule 29.1, when she:

  • purchased shares in a public company for her own account and directly from someone who was an insider of the company involved, all without her firm’s knowledge;
  • failed in her duty to protect the public in connection with trades effected in two securities ordered by a client who was a consultant to the companies involved, when she knew or should have known that the trades could be a sign of market manipulation;
  • purchased securities for her own account through a registered staff person at her firm, without the firm’s knowledge;
  • through another registered staff person at her firm, participated in a private placement in a public company for her own account, without informing her firm; and
  • together with another registered staff person at Desjardins, responded to three client complaints by compensating the clients directly, without her firm’s knowledge.

The panel also found that two allegations were unfounded: that St-Amant recommended securities held in her own account; and that she accepted reimbursement for compensation without her firm’s knowledge.

The violations occurred in 2005 and 2006 while St-Amant was a Registered Representative at the Brossard branch of Desjardins Securities Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm. IIROC began investigating St-Amant’s conduct in November 2006. St-Amant is still a Registered Representative at this firm.