Client Concerns

Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada Client Complaints 

Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada (“FTCC”) has designed a client complaint procedure to ensure that our clients know how to communicate their dissatisfaction and that every complaint we receive is reported to FTCC management. Under federal law, we are required to report certain types of complaints to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (“FCAC”). Please see below for additional information on FCAC.

If you have a complaint about our services, we want to hear from you. Please use the following procedure:

  • First, please contact your Portfolio Manager or Trust Officer to discuss your concern. Most service-related issues can be resolved immediately at this stage.
  • If your service-related complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction by your Portfolio Manager or Trust Officer, you should contact FTCC’s Complaints Officer by mail at: 200 King Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3T4, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (416) 957-6148 (toll free 1 (800) 574-3822).
  • If your complaint includes an allegation of misconduct or wrongdoing by FTCC or any of its Representatives, the complaint will be escalated to FTCC’s Complaints Officer.
  • When filing your complaint, please tell us what went wrong, when it happened and what you expect from us to resolve your complaint (e.g., apology, account correction, money back, etc.).
  • We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within five (5) business days of receipt. We may ask you to provide additional information or clarification to help us resolve your complaint. This acknowledgment will include the date received, compliant identification number, a description of the complaint, the name of the Complaints Officer, a summary of the complaints process including timeline for providing a decision.
  • At this stage, we will provide you with information about our independent dispute resolution service, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (“OBSI”) (for more information, see below). We may have a legal obligation to report your complaint to FCAC. This legal obligation may override your instructions regarding our use of non-public personal information and it is our policy to inform you that your complaint may be reported to FCAC.
  • If your complaint remains unresolved to your satisfaction, you may contact FTCC’s Chief Compliance Officer, by mail at: 200 King Street West, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3T4 or by email at [email protected].
  • Our Board of Directors reviews all complaints received by our Chief Compliance Officer.
  • For complaints received from all jurisdictions other than Quebec, we will provide our decision in writing, within 90 days of receiving a complaint. For complaints received by residents of Quebec, we will provide our decision in writing within 60 days of receiving a complaint unless there are exceptional circumstances or circumstances beyond the control of the firm, in which case the final response from the firm will be provided within ninety (90) days.
  • For jurisdictions other than Quebec, if we are unable to provide a decision within 90 days, we will inform you of the delay with an explanation and give you a new date for our decision. If you are not satisfied with our decision, you may be eligible for the independent dispute resolution service offered by OBSI.
  • The decision will include a statement that the communication is the final response to the complaint, a summary of the complaint, the results of our investigation and our decision to make an offer to resolve the complaint or deny it. If an offer is made, you will have thirty (30) days to respond to the offer.

Information Regarding OBSI

You may be eligible for OBSI's free and independent dispute resolution service if:

  • FTCC does not provide our decision within 90 days after you made your complaint, or
  • you are not satisfied with our decision.

OBSI can recommend compensation of up to $350,000. OBSI’s service is available to FTCC clients, but this does not restrict your ability to take a complaint to a dispute resolution service of your choosing at your own expense, or to bring an action in court. Note that there are time limits for taking legal action.

You have the right to use OBSI's service if:

  • your complaint relates to a trading or advising activity of FTCC or by one of our Representatives;
  • you brought your complaint within six years from the time that you first knew, or ought to have known, about the event that caused the complaint; and
  • you file your complaint with OBSI according to the time limits outlined below.

Applicable time limits:

  • If we do not provide our decision within 90 days, you can take your complaint to OBSI any time after the 90-day period has ended.
  • If you are not satisfied with our decision, you have up to 180 days after we provide you with our decision to take a complaint to OBSI.

You can contact OBSI at:

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 1-888-451-4519 or 416-287-2877 in Toronto

Once OBSI has completed its investigation, it will provide its recommendations to you and FTCC. OBSI’s recommendations are not binding on you or us. For more information about OBSI, visit www.obsi.ca.

Information Regarding Autorité des marchés financiers

If you are a Quebec resident and you are dissatisfied with the examination of your complaint or the answer obtained from us, you can ask us to transfer your complaint file to the Autorité des marchés financiers (“AMF”). The AMF will examine the complaint file and, if it deems it appropriate, request additional information from us or take other steps.

The AMF may also recommend mediation if it deems it appropriate and the parties agree. In such a case, the AMF will use the services of an external mediator.

A form designed to request the transfer of a file to the AMF can be found on the AMF website https://lautorite.qc.ca/grand-public. You can contact the AMF at: Telephone: 1 (877) 525-0337 or (514) 395- 0337 in Montreal or (418) 525-0337 in Quebec City.

The transfer of a complaint to the AMF does not interrupt the limitation period for AMF’s recourse against us before the civil law courts.

On an annual basis, we send a report to the AMF regarding our complaint examination and dispute resolution policy. The report includes the number and nature of the written complaints made against us.

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada supervises all federally regulated financial institutions, which includes trust and loan companies, for compliance with federal consumer protection laws.

Trust and loan companies are legally required to have a complaint-handling process in place.

If you have a problem with a financial product or service, you may file a complaint with the responsible trust and loan company directly. If you are not satisfied with how your complaint has been handled or 90 days has passed since you made your complaint, you can escalate the complaint to the following External Complaints Body: Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) – https://www.obsi.ca.

If you want to know your rights or need information about the complaint-handling process of a trust and loan company, you may contact FCAC by online form, mail, or telephone. FCAC uses information from consumer enquiries to support its mandate.

Web site: www.canada.ca/fcac

Online form: https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/corporate/contact-us.html

Phone:

For service in English: 1-866-461-FCAC (3222)

For service in French: 1-866-461-ACFC (2232)

For calls from outside Canada: 613-960-4666

Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-866-914-6097 / 613-947-7771

Video Relay Service: FCAC welcomes Video Relay Service (VRS) calls. You do not need to authorize the relay service operator to communicate with FCAC. Visit https://srvcanadavrs.ca/en/ to learn more.

Mailing address:

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

427 Laurier Avenue West, 5th Floor

Ottawa ON K1R 7Y2