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Summary:
The proposed amendments are intended to address financial exploitation and diminished mental capacity in vulnerable clients (i.e. those at risk of exploitation because of an illness, impairment, disability or aging process limitation). Registrants (including those regulated by SROs) would be required to take reasonable steps to get a name and contact details of a trusted contact person (“TCP”) that the registrant could contact in prescribed circumstances. The TCP would be a resource to help protect the client, but wouldn’t be the same as an individual appointed under a Power of Attorney or have the authority to transact. The proposed amendments would also provide a “safe harbour” to place a temporary hold on the purchase or sale of a security, or the withdrawal or transfer of securities or cash from an account if the firm reasonably believes that a vulnerable client is being financially exploited or that the client does not have the mental capacity to make financial decisions with respect to an instruction given by them. The firm would have to take a number of steps if they did put a temporary hold on an account, including providing the client with notice of any decision to continue the hold at least every 30 days.