You and your accounts are protected

1st level of protection

The Canadian securities industry has had an insurance program in place since 1969. It’s called the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (“CIPF”) and it covers customer losses resulting from the insolvency of Member firms. MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc is a Member firm. CIPF covers both “general” and “separate” accounts of customers to a maximum of $1,000,000 each. Further details on how your accounts are categorized, and protected, can be found on the CIPF web site at www.CIPF.ca in the “Explore CIPF Coverage” section.

The Canadian Investor Protection Fund has paid in full every eligible customer claim resulting from the insolvency of a Member firm. You, the investor, pay no fees for this protection. Coverage is automatic when you open an account with a dealer that is a Member of the Fund.

2nd level of protection

All securities for which you have paid are “segregated”. This means that they are your property and cannot be used in the operations of the dealer. They are also not available to meet the claims of any creditors of the dealer. It is important to know that the securities industry is closely monitored and that all firms must adhere to the regulations concerning the segregation of securities. To monitor compliance with industry regulations, firms are subject to both regular and surprise audits along with annual audits by a public accounting firm. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP is the auditor of MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc.

3rd level of protection

The next safeguard is that segregated securities are held in what is called “Segregation” at a Central Depository. The Canadian Depository for Securities (“CDS”) is the central depository in Canada and the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) is the central depository in the US.
Financial institutions such as banks, trust companies and securities dealers rarely deal with physical securities. Rather, they hold evidence of these securities electronically. Records of security holdings are kept by three different entities:

• MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc. 

• Trust companies, as transfer agents 

• Central depositories

   

4th level of protection

A dealer that does not participate in activities exposing it to risk is running a very straightforward business. For example, MacDougall carries limited inventory primarily in short term money market investments. MacDougall does not trade its capital and as such, is not exposed to trading losses. Our client base has limited margin exposure and therefore there is low risk of exposure to accounts receivable losses.
In short, we do not:

• Maintain inventories that carry risk, 

• Lend money through margin accounts on shares under $3, 

• Trade commodities or currencies, 

• Engage in activities that expose our clients or our firm to risk.

   

And finally

We have been in business for over 150 years. Our primary business focus is managing investment portfolios for our clients. We are very conservatively managed and comfortably exceed the capital and liquidity requirements of the industry. We are committed to and achieve a high level of quality personal service to our clients. Your account is secure with us, regardless of its size.
  

We trust the details above offer you comfort as to the safety of your securities at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc., and would be pleased to elaborate on any of these points with you.