RS FINAL SETTLEMENTTORONTO, May 30, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --
Northern Financial Corporation ("Northern") (TSX: NFC) announced that a Hearing Panel of the Hearing Committee of Market Regulation Services Inc. ("RS") has approved a final settlement between Northern's wholly-owned subsidiary, Northern Securities Inc. ("Northern Securities") and RS.
Northern Securities entered into the settlement agreement with RS on May 14, 2008, to settle the proceedings brought by RS as described in the Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations on October 20, 2005 (the "Original Allegations").
Under the settlement, RS has withdrawn allegations that Northern Securities i) made purchases of the shares of two companies while these securities were on its grey list; ii) conducted an improper off-marketplace trade; iii) failed to comply with its best price obligation to a client; and iv) failed to properly mark certain trades, all of which were contained in the Original Allegations.
Northern Securities and RS have agreed upon various facts in a revision of the remaining Original Allegations, including that Northern Securities lacked certain appropriate trading supervision, compliance oversight and testing, and did not update certain policies and procedures in a timely manner. Northern Securities has agreed to a fine of $125,000 and to pay costs incurred by RS in the amount of $50,000 for an aggregate amount of $175,000, which is payable over an 18 month period.
In addition, under the settlement agreement RS has withdrawn all of the Original Allegations relating to Vic Alboini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Securities and Chris Shaule, Senior Vice President of Northern Securities. The proceedings by RS against Vic Alboini and Chris Shaule as described in the Original Allegations were discontinued and permanently stayed by the Hearing Panel today.
The settlement agreement and related materials will be publicly available on the website of RS.
Vic Alboini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated: "A commitment to compliance best practices has always been one of Northern Securities' core values. We are pleased that the settlement agreement recognizes both the significant effort Northern Securities has made in developing its compliance department since 2003, as well as the fact that there were no investor losses and no financial benefit to Northern Securities as a result of certain technical supervision and compliance matters."
About Northern Financial Corporation
Northern Financial Corporation wholly owns Northern Securities Inc., a full service investment dealer that provides financial advisory services to retail and institutional clients and investment banking services to small capitalization companies.
The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, and uncertainties not under Northern's control which may cause actual results, performances or achievements of Northern to be materially different from those implied by such forward looking statements.
SOURCE: Northern Financial Corporation
Kyler Wells, General Counsel, (416) 644-8177, kwells@northernsi.com
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