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| TO : |
All Interested Parties |
| FROM: |
Jim Hall,
Chair, Joint Forum Sub-committee on Practice Standards for the Sale of Products and Services in the Financial Sector
Superintendent of Insurance, Saskatchewan
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| RE: |
Joint Forum Practice Standards Project - Stakeholder Consultation |
Introduction
The Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators has undertaken a project to develop a common set of principles and practices for the sale of products and services by all financial intermediaries. The goal is to ensure that consumers receive a consistent level of service and protection across the financial services sector.
Regulators have discussed at length and agreed upon the principles and practices set out in the attached document titled Principles and Practices for the Sale of Products and Services in the Financial Sector. (For background information on the project, please see the document titled Backgrounder that has been included with this package).
In the longer term, the Joint Forum's goal is to have these principles and practices incorporated into the codes of conduct of financial industry associations. Ultimately, they would be followed by all financial intermediaries in the distribution of financial products and services.
As the next step in the project, the Joint Forum seeks the input of stakeholders. Specifically, we welcome your comments on the following documents:
| 1. |
Principles and Practices for the Sale of Products and Services in the Financial Sector. This is the primary document of the project as described above.
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A Consumer's Guide to Financial Transactions. This is a companion document which sets out the principles and practices in a form which we hope will be clear to consumers.
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Industry Examples. This set of documents is intended to provide descriptive examples to enhance intermediaries' understanding of the principles and practices. The examples documents have been developed in consultation with industry members and are unique for each industry. The intent of these documents is not to set out current legislative requirements in any given jurisdiction, rather the goal is to provide a set of examples which are broadly applicable and which will serve to illustrate the principles and practices on a nation-wide basis. |
Your Comments Are Requested
We are seeking your assistance and support by providing all stakeholders with the opportunity to review the attached documents. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments or suggestions with respect to our proposals, including expressions of support. Your feedback would be appreciated by May 29, 2003.
Submissions should be sent to:
Stephen Paglia
Senior Policy Analyst
Joint Forum Project Office
Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators
5160 Yonge Street, 17th Floor, Box 85
North York, Ontario M2N 6L9
e-mail: spaglia@fsco.gov.on.ca
A diskette or an e-mail attachment containing submissions in either Word or Wordperfect format should also be submitted.
Please note that it is the intention of the Joint Forum and its Sub-committee on Practice Standards that comments received pursuant to this consultation process will be made public. We cannot keep your submissions confidential because legislation in certain provinces requires us to publish a summary of written comments received during the comment period.
Please note that regulators in Quebec are not participating in the Practice Standards project, or in this consultation. However, they continue to monitor the process and the Joint Forum's work in this area.
Your input to this process is most appreciated.
Yours truly,
Jim Hall
Chair
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