Securities commissions defend name-and-shame lists despite unpaid penalties

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In the five years since the Ontario Securities Commission launched its “delinquent respondents list,” a website page designed to expose securities law violators, only a few of the names have been removed.

Only 16 of the 432 names on the list have been taken down – 13 of which because they paid their fines or other sanctions, and three because they’ve started a payment plan.

Commissions don’t agree whether the sites are effective, fair, or even worthwhile, with only five of the 10 provincial bodies using them.

“Fining somebody and banning them from the markets – when they weren’t operating in the markets in the first place legitimately, and fining them when you know they’re never going to pay – doesn’t really do much,” said Marian Passmore, director of policy for the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights.

Read more at Global News

This article is summarized by Canadian Fraud News Inc.