November 11, 2011 Insurance Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders

Montréal - On November 4, 2011, at the request of the Autorité des marchés financiers (the AMF), the Bureau de décision et de révision (the Bureau) imposed an administrative penalty of $8,000 on Cailloux, Dagort et associés inc., an insurance of persons and damage insurance firm.

The AMF accused Cailloux, Dagort et associés inc. of not ensuring that its employee, Shelley Sirois, held a certificate duly issued by the AMF to act as a damage insurance representative.

The Bureau also ordered the firm to implement control and monitoring measures to ensure that its employees and officers comply with An Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services.

In its analysis, the Bureau considered the fact that acting as a representative without being registered as such with the AMF is a penal offence, that the firm's many years of operations should have been sufficient to prevent a rather basic mistake and that, although the mistake was not intentional, the firm was not very alert. The Bureau also considered the short duration of the violations, the fact that there were no losses suffered by investors and the solid co-operation provided during the inspection of records related to the activities of Shelley Sirois.

In November 2010, Shelley Sirois was found guilty of illegally using the title of damage insurance broker and was fined a total of $3,000.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (the AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec's financial industry.

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