OBSI News

OBSI e-News: Q2/2021

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring our newest case study, consumer bulletin, notice of independent evaluations and more.

Click here to read OBSI e-news: Q2/2021.

Consumer Bulletin: Take care when considering mutual funds with DSCs

Last updated: Monday May 10, 2021

Deferred sales charges (DSCs) are fees that mutual fund investors pay to the mutual fund company if they sell the mutual fund within a certain time after purchasing it. All mutual funds have fees and there are many ways that these fees can be structured. Not all mutual funds have DSCs, but many do. The amount the investor must pay when they sell a mutual fund with DSCs declines over time and typically reaches zero after five to seven years. This is an example of...

OBSI 2020 Annual Report released: consumer complaints increase in 2020

Toronto, April 29, 2021 – The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) has released its Annual Report for 2020.

“The challenges of 2020 were unprecedented for OBSI, as they were for people and organizations around the world, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Sarah Bradley, Ombudsman and CEO, “and I am proud of the outstanding performance of our organization through this difficult period. Our work for the year has taken place in the context of two overarching external challenges:...

OBSI e-News: Q1/2021

Read OBSI's latest newsletter featuring our annual report, our latest consumer bulletin for fraud month, and more.

Click here to read OBSI e-news: Q1/2021.

Consumer Bulletin: Sometimes fraudsters are people we know

Canadians have good reason to fear getting scammed.

Nearly a quarter of the banking cases OBSI received in 2020 were related to fraud, making it the most reported banking issue of the year. According to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre, fraud is on the rise. In 2020, Canadians lost $106.4 million to fraud compared to $96 million in 2019.

Many of these frauds and scams are perpetrated by criminals hiding behind false identities on the internet, and it seems these fraudsters are always figuring out new...