What is a Carrying Broker?

If you hold securities with Rogers Group Investment Advisors, you will have received a notice detailing the change to our new Carrying Broker.  Securities may be stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), GICs, and other investment vehicles. Rogers Group Investment Advisors Ltd. (RGIA) is the securities arm of our firm and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rogers Group Financial Advisors Ltd. (RGFA). Together, they operate as Rogers Group Financial. 

Since 2001, we have utilized the back-office services of National Bank Correspondent Network (NBCN) to perform key administrative functions for our clients. In September, we will be changing our Carrying Broker from NBCN to Raymond James Correspondent Services Ltd.

Raymond James Ltd. is the Canadian subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc., established in 1962, Raymond James Financial, Inc. globally serves over 2.6 million individual investors and families.  With over $25 billion in assets in Canada, Raymond James Ltd.  is also a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.  In February 2014, Fortune magazine ranked Raymond James Financial one of the most admired securities companies in the world.

So, what exactly does a Carrying Broker or, as it’s often called, a Carrying Dealer, do?
A Carrying Broker provides back office functions such as trading, clearing, settlement, and custodial services, it maintains records of transactions and prepares regulatory client statements and tax slips.

Every few years, we review our supplier relationships to ensure that we are getting the best offering possible. We found that Raymond James Ltd.’s offering ultimately would allow us to provide better service to our clients.

This change does not affect your advisory relationship with us in any way.  This is an administration change of our back-office provider only. We remain the independent financial advisory firm our clients have trusted for over 40 years.  Our independence gives our advisors the freedom to compare available alternatives in the marketplace and recommend what we believe is the best financial solution for your unique circumstances.
One of the first service improvements that will be available is the electronic delivery of your regulatory statements(you can still get the paper copy mailed to you if you prefer). This new service should be available a couple of months after the change.

For most clients, there is no change in the fees that they pay. There are only minor changes, such as the certified cheque fee increasing from $15 to $25 or the security registration fee decreasing from $95 to $50.The date of the change is September 8, 2015. With the change in Carrying Broker, new technology platform, and new registered plans trustee, we will be required to update various contractual and regulatory paperwork with you. We will contact you in the months following the change to complete any necessary paperwork and we will streamline the process as much as possible to avoid any potential inconvenience to you.

Your regulatory statements will have a fresh new look starting with your September 30, 2015 statements.  In addition, the institution name on some of your mail and tax slips will be different.  Canadian Western Trust (CWT) will replace Natcan Trust Company as the trustee and issuer for any registered plans (such as RRSP, RESP, RRIF, TFSA) that you may currently have with Rogers Group Investment Advisors Ltd.

Administrative Matters

If you use online banking to deposit money into your accounts, you will need to change the payee to Raymond James Ltd. New account numbers will be provided after the conversion in September. Please avoid using this feature in the first week of September to prevent any possible inaccuracies. If you have online access for your accounts, the Rogers Group Financial Investor Portal will not be available for the first week after the change.  

Please contact your advisory team if you have any questions.