February 19, 2014

On February 14, 2014, the Bureau de décision et de révision (the Bureau) approved the settlement reached by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and Duncan Ross Associates Ltd., a firm duly registered with the AMF as a portfolio manager, an exempt market dealer and an investment fund manager, its chief compliance officer and current president, Robert Duncan Ross, and its former president, Susan Ferraris-Abbondi.

Under the settlement, the respondents admitted the facts, signed an undertaking to apply corrective measures and agreed to pay the following: an administrative penalty of $13,500 against Duncan Ross Associates Ltd., an administrative penalty of $1,350 against Robert Duncan Ross as chief compliance officer and an administrative penalty of $1,350 against Susan Ferraris-Abbondi as president of the firm.

The allegations admitted by Duncan Ross arose from an AMF inspection. They pertained in particular to the repayment of a subordinated debt, certain shortcomings in the recording of business transactions, insufficient insurance coverage with respect to investment fund management activities and inadequate internal control over business bank accounts