Today, the Ontario Securities Commission approved a no-contest settlement agreement with RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Royal Mutual Funds Inc., and RBC Philips, Hager & North Investment Counsel Inc. (the RBC Registrants).

The settlement resulted from RBC Registrants self-reporting to the OSC. It also follows allegations by OSC Staff that there were inadequacies in the RBC Registrants’ systems of controls and supervision, which resulted in certain clients paying, directly or indirectly, excess fees that were not detected or corrected in a timely manner.

OSC Staff do not allege, and have found no evidence of, dishonest conduct by the RBC Registrants.

The RBC Registrants haven’t admitted or denied the accuracy of the allegations but have agreed to the settlement. They intend to compensate clients a total of $21.8 million (including opportunity costs on fees).

In addition to that compensation, says OSC, the RBC Registrants have made a payment of $925,000 to advance the OSC’s mandate of protecting investors, as well as a further payment of $50,000 to be allocated toward the costs of OSC Staff’s investigation.

After reporting this matter, the OSC says the RBC Registrants provided prompt, detailed and candid co-operation to OSC Staff. The RBC Registrants have also implemented additional controls and supervision to prevent a re-occurrence of this matter.

To date, the OSC has approved eight no-contest settlements, resulting in approximately $342 million in compensation to investors, according to today’s release.