CAFP SAYS SCOTIA'S ADS ARE MISLEADING
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based Scotia Discount Brokerage has come out fighting after hearing that its latest ads for its 2.5% bonus on back-end mutual funds are misleading. According to the Canadian Association of Financial Planners, the ads contain misleading and erroneous information in its reference to financial planners. The ads should use the term "investment advisor" rather than "financial planner, CAFP says. SDBI is promoting the bonus program using ads in major daily newspapers across Canada, as well as radio ads on Toronto radio stations. The ads infer that financial planners do not always inform their clients about their compensation arrangements, according to a CAFP press release. This may be true of investment advisors but not of professional financial planners, the organization states. Professional financial planners are members of the CAFP and/or are licensed by the Financial Planners Standards Council. In either case, financial planners are bound by a code of ethics that requires them to fully disclose to every client all sources of compensation relative to any recommendations made and/or service performed, says the CAFP. Investment advisors sell financial products such as stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds. The CAFP has written Scotia Bank demanding that the text of the ads in question be changed. When Scotiabank was asked for its reaction, brokerage president and CEO Andrew Scipio del Campo said, "Canadian Investors are going to continue to hear about our programs with as much vigor as we can deliver." The CAFP is the national policy, promotion and advocacy organization that represents individual practitioners in the personal financial planning profession. The SDBI campaign was created by Hellin Integrated Marketing of Toronto, while BBDO Canada of Toronto did the media buy.