Update on Membership Disclosure Requirements

1. Background

CIRO dealer members must disclose their SRO membership as required by subsection 2285(1) of the Investment Dealer and Partially Consolidated (IDPC) Rules and section 2.13 of the Mutual Fund Dealer Rules. The specifics of such disclosure are outlined in the IIROC Membership Disclosure Policy (for investment dealer members) and the Disclosure of MFDA Membership Policy (for mutual fund dealer members). This notice provides information for dealer members regarding transitioning membership disclosure from their predecessor SROs to CIRO.

2. Transitioning to the CIRO name and logo

On June 1, 2023, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) formed through the amalgamation of the MFDA and IIROC was officially named the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO). Dealer members must update their membership disclosures from either MFDA or IIROC names and logos, to the CIRO name and logo by December 31, 2024. For clarity, dealer members may update their membership disclosure anytime prior to December 31, 2024.

Dealer members should continue to comply with the specific membership disclosure requirements that are applicable to their registration category as there are differences in requirements for mutual fund dealer members and investment dealer members. Membership disclosure requirements will be assessed as part of the phased plan to consolidate investment dealer and mutual fund dealer rules.

A. Membership Disclosure Transition Information Applicable to all Dealer Members

i. Regulated by CIRO Logos for Client Account Statements and Dealer Website Homepages

Dealer members may download the new “Regulated by CIRO” logos to update their membership disclosures on the front pages of client account statements and dealer website homepages.

To download the Regulated by CIRO logos investment dealer members may login to the IIROC Services Website and mutual fund dealer members may login to the Members Only Website.

ii. Link to CIRO Website

In addition to updating the “Regulated by CIRO” logos, dealer members should update the associated link on their website homepages from either mfda.ca or iiroc.ca, to ciro.ca (for English) or ocri.ca (for French).

B. Membership Disclosure Transition Information Applicable to Investment Dealer Members and Dual-Registered Members

iii. Decals

As required under the existing IDPC Rules and the IIROC Membership Disclosure Policy, Investment dealer members are required to display membership decals which must be clearly visible to clients at each business location to which the public has access.

CIRO decals may be ordered by contacting the public affairs department. CIRO will only accept orders for the CIRO decal from the dealer member’s head office, which is responsible for ordering and distributing the CIRO decal to each of its locations.

CIRO supplies the decals to dealer members at no cost. Dealer members are required to order the CIRO decal from CIRO by sending an email to [email protected] with the following information:

• Dealer Member name
• Contact name, address and phone number
• Email address
• Quantities required

Orders will be processed and sent by regular mail.

iv. Brochures

As required under the existing IDPC Rules and the IIROC Membership Disclosure Policy, investment dealer members must continue to provide an electronic or hard copy of the current version of the IIROC Official Brochure to new retail clients at the time of account opening and to existing retail clients upon request. Investment dealer members must also continue to provide IIROC's “Making a Complaint” and “How Can I Get My Money Back” brochures to all new clients, clients who have submitted a written complaint, and when responding to a client complaint1 .

CIRO staff are currently evaluating and revising the content of these brochures, with the goal of ensuring applicability for all CIRO dealer members and transitioning the branding from IIROC to CIRO. Staff expects to provide further updates on the brochures in the coming months. In the interim, investment dealer members should continue to provide the IIROC branded brochures. Investment dealer members that require more copies of the IIROC branded brochures may want to consider providing clients with PDF copies electronically until the CIRO branded brochures are available.

v. IIROC AdvisorReport

There are no changes regarding IIROC AdvisorReport at this time. Investment dealer members that provide products or services to retail investors should continue to comply with the requirements to reference IIROC AdvisorReport as set out in the IIROC Membership Disclosure Policy.

C. Membership Disclosure Transition Information Applicable to Mutual Fund Dealer Firms

Other than the requirements to update the membership disclosure to the logos and website links set out in section 2(A) above by December 31, 2024 there are currently no other changes to disclosure requirements for mutual fund dealer firms. Disclosure requirements for mutual fund dealer firms continue to be those set out in the Disclosure of MFDA Membership Policy.

• 1CIRO IDPC Rules 3724, 3725, 3726