Days after an agreement in principle was reached in the Norbourg class action suit, opening the door for thousands of investors to recover nearly all the money they lost in one of the biggest investment frauds in the country, questions surrounding the efficacy and scope of investor protection provided by the debt-ridden indemnity fund overseen by Quebec’s financial watchdog have surfaced.
A group of investor advocates, financial professionals, and the body that oversees financial professionals in Quebec are beckoning the provincial government to cast a critical eye on the financial services compensation fund administered by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), a call that Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand seems to have heard. The finance minister recently requested the securities regulator to “see if something different should be put in place, how it should be done, while listening to industry.”