A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has accepted a settlement agreement between IIROC staff and Catherine Deborah Jones. In the settlement agreement, Jones admitted that she guaranteed a client account and that she placed discretionary trades.
Specifically, Jones admitted to the following violations:
(a) In November 2007, she offered to guarantee an initial investment made by her client in May 2007, contrary to IIROC Dealer Member Rule 29.1 (formerly IDA By-law 29.1).
(b) In March 2008 and June 2008, she effected discretionary orders for the account of her client, without having her client’s prior written authorization and without the account having been designated and approved as a discretionary account by her then employer Leede Financial Markets Inc., contrary to IIROC Dealer Member Rules 1300.4 and 1300.5 (formally IDA Regulations 1300.4 and 1300.5).
Pursuant to the agreement, Jones has agreed to the following penalty:
(a) A $22,500 fine;
(b) A 6 month period of close supervision; and
(c) Successful completion of the Conduct and Practices Handbook Course by July 6, 2012.
She also agreed to pay $1,000 in costs to IIROC.
Read the Settlement Agreement here.
IIROC formally initiated the investigation into Ms. Jones’ conduct in January 2009. The violations occurred when she was a Registered Representative with the Vancouver, BC branch of Leede Financial Markets Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm. Ms. Jones is currently a Registered Representative with the Vancouver head office of Union Securities Ltd.