There have been a number of developments since the report on May 14, 2009 entitled “Heads You Lose, Tails You Lose: The Strange Case of Leveraged ETFs”. Since then there have been a number of encouraging developments…However, much remains to be done.

TACD has issued a resolution calling on the EU and the US government to act swiftly to re-regulate the financial services industry in order to ensure that consumers are adequately protected and that future crises are avoided. The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue TACD is a forum of US and EU consumer organizations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making…
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The Obama Administration’s White Paper on Financial Regulatory Reform (summary here) would require all financial product advertising and other communications to be “balanced in their presentation of benefits, and clear and conspicuous in their identification of costs, penalties, and risks.” The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would define standards for “plain vanilla” financial products and require all financial service providers to offer these products prominently. The White Paper also proposed imposing fiduciary responsibilities on all managers, advisors and salespeople of investment products, and addressing conflicts of interest caused by compensation practices…

FAIR Canada met in Montreal on May 26, 2009 with 11 senior members of the Coalition for the Protection of Investors. The two organizations decided to work together on some of the key issues described below. Coalition co-founder and spokesman Robert Pouliot has since joined the FAIR Board of Directors. The list of participants can be found at the end of this report…

In a report released today entitled: “Heads You Lose, Tails You Lose: The Strange Case of Leveraged ETFs” FAIR Canada described the hazards of investing in leveraged and inverse ETFs for periods longer than the daily performance that these funds promise. The 9 page report describes the growth of this very popular product in both the U.S. and Canada and how they pose threats to the health of investor portfolios…

FAIR Canada is pleased to announce the latest addition to the FAIR Team: Associate Director, Steven Garmaise. An investor, analyst and senior manager since 1983, Steve Garmaise has seen the best and worst of Bay and Wall Streets…

FAIR Canada is pleased to announce changes to its Board of Directors. Stanley Beck, the Chair of FAIR Canada…

On April 7, 2009 the OSC appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Agencies…

FAIR Canada wrote to the TSX in January urging the TSX to act promptly to amend its rules…

Canada falls below international best practice in maintaining shareholder rights…

Whipple Steinkrauss, a FAIR Canada Director, passed away on Friday, January 31, 2009.  
Although retired, Whipple remained just as active – as a strong and insightful voice and was very well respected and admired by many in the consumer and investor advocate communities. 
An example of her advocacy and expertise can be seen from her recent [...]

The Canadian Foundation for the Advancement of Investor Rights (“FAIR“), an organization committed to advancing the rights of shareholders and individual investors, announced today that it has written to the CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX“) urging the TSX that it adopt shareholder approval requirements consistent with other major financial markets and global corporate [...]