The Portfolio Management Association of Canada (“PMAC”) welcomes the opportunity to participate in the 2016 independent evaluation of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether OBSI is fulfilling its obligations as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding concerning oversight of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (MOU) and whether any operational, budget and/or procedural changes in OBSI would be desirable in order to improve OBSI’s effectiveness in servicing registrants and their clients.
We appreciate the opportunity to have met with you in-person on January 25, 2016 to provide feedback on our Members’ views of OBSI’s dispute resolution service and Member experience to date. As we stated at that meeting, given our Members are new to OBSI along with the very low complaint volume experienced since the service was mandated in August 2014, our feedback on OBSI’s operations and practices is somewhat limited. However, we can provide comments that address some key issues we believe merit further review and consideration.
In this letter, we will provide: (i) background on the Associations’ advocacy position; (ii) our Member experience with OBSI, (iii) comments on our perception of progress made in OBSI’s governance, operations and services, and (iv) recommendations for future consideration.