Anti-regulatory advocates are gonna hate this postThe savage beat-down of TLT - arguably a crime in plain sight - is largely because investment dealers, and the Alternative Trading Systems (ATS) exchanges that they rule, are almost entirely self-regulated.
In other words, the investment dealers who robbed Theralase and their shareholers, cannot be held accountable for their extortion-like tactics.
So don't waste a minute complaining to IIROC as they are a basically a self-dealing, self-regulating agency.
And don't bother whining to the OSC as they will simply refer you to IIROC.
The notion that money-hungry brokers can regulate themselves is like allowing acoholics to make the call on how much booze they consume.
In Canada's financial services industry, the only meaningly regulator (one who has the teeth to enforce rules) is the federal Office of the Superintendent of Flnancial Institutions. OSFI oversees banks, insurance companies and pension funds.
It's high time that OSFI's mandate be substantially expanded to include all activities in Canada's capital markets. The provinces will cry foul that the Feds shouldn't intrude on their territory, but that's a load of sh!t given the current state of affairs.
For those of Trumpian persuasion - who passionately hate regulations - this will not be a welcome proposal.
But remember what happened to Boeing. The FAA allowed the company to self-regulate, leading to two preventable plane crashes that killed 346 people.
While nobody got killed in the TLT financing, many loyal shareholders could only stand by while they were robbed blind.
Enough of this nonsense!! Investment dealers must be held accountable for the blatant price manipulation and shady trading practices that grossly devalued TLT.