The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada – what it can and can’t do to help you

The name Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca ) conjures up an image of an Agency focused on the protection of financial consumers. As an agency of the federal government, it investigates complaints about financial institutions under federal jurisdiction. These institutions include all banks and all federally incorporated or registered insurance, trust and loan companies, and co-operative credit associations.

FCAC is not responsible for credit unions, finance companies, mutual fund dealers, securities dealers and other financial institutions that fall under provincial jurisdiction .Anything to do with stocks, bonds or mutual funds is still the responsibility of provincial securities regulators and authorized SRO’s such as the IIROC www.iiroc.ca and the MFDA www.mfda.ca . But a limited number of provisions related to Principal Protected Notes do fall under their auspices when issued by a federally regulated bank or insurance company http://www.fcac.gc.ca/eng/consumers/rights/protectednotes/protectednotes-eng.asp

Read the full article ( 2010)