OBSI Board Announces New Chair and Members of the Consumer and Investor Advisory Council

The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments Board of Directors announced the new members of its independent Consumer and Investor Advisory Council (CIAC) and the appointment of a new Chair of the council.

Guy Lemoine has been appointed the new Chair of the CIAC. Mr. Lemoine has been a member of the CIAC since 2014. He is a lawyer by profession, and holds a master’s degree in public administration. He has previously worked with the Office of the Attorney General of Quebec specializing in economic crime, the Department of Justice, Canada, and is a former Vice Chairman and commissioner of the Commission des valeurs mobilières du Québec. Mr. Lemoine has also served as a board member of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and as the founding President of the Bureau de décision et de révision en valeurs mobilières du Québec. He chairs disciplinary proceedings conducted by hearing panels of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and is a current board member of the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights (FAIR Canada).

Five new members will also be joining the CIAC, including Mohinder Singh Bajwa, Harold Geller, Wanda Morris, Harvey Naglie, and Andrew Teasdale.

These members join Eric Spink and Richard Swift who are continuing members of the council.

The Board of Directors thanks outgoing Chair Julia Dublin for her contributions to the CIAC, and would like to also thank Ermanno Pascutto and Nidhi Tandon for their valuable insights and efforts since they joined the council.

The CIAC members come from across Canada and have backgrounds that ensure they are familiar with consumer issues and concerns relevant to OBSI’s mandate. The CIAC is intended to ensure that the OBSI board regularly receives and has the opportunity to consider input from all stakeholder perspectives, including those of consumers, industry, and regulatory and government officials.

Information about the CIAC is available on the OBSI website here.
 

Biographical information on the new CIAC members

Mohinder Singh Bajwa is a registered social worker, who holds a BA, BSc, and a master’s degree in social work. Mr. Bajwa has 15-years’ experience in senior management roles in government with extensive experience and expertise in indigenous relations. He has also held several statutory positions in government.

Harold Geller is a lawyer who represents investors and insureds with claims against financial advisors, MFDA and IIROC representatives, insurance salespeople and their firms involving misselling, regulatory breaches and fraud. He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association Elder Law Committee’s Executive and the Ontario Bar Association Insurance Law Committee’s Executive.

Wanda Morris is the Vice-President of Advocacy for CARP, a 300,000-member organization that advocates for health and financial security for older Canadians. She is a CPA with over three decades of business experience, a frequent media commentator, and the author of Grey Matters, a weekly column for Post Media. 

Harvey Naglie holds over 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, with a focus on financial services. He is a former Senior Policy Advisor for the Ontario Ministry of Finance’s Financial Services Policy Division, where he participated in developing and implementing policies related to securities regulation and investor protection. Mr. Naglie holds an LLM in securities law from York University, an MBA from the University of Western Ontario Ivey School of Business and an MA in economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Andrew Teasdale is a CFA Charter holder, economist and independent consultant with a strong interest in “community” and specific expertise in asset liability modelling and management and a focus on complex systems across multiple disciplines. Over the last decade in Canada he has argued for changes in securities regulation that would, among other things, enforce fiduciary standards for personalised investment advice and remove transaction based remuneration for such advice. He has also helped develop award winning models of community care, service structures and processes for the care of older adults with complex care needs.