- Post 10,609
- Cleanup
- Quote
- Jul 10, 2022 7:23am
- https://assets.faireconomy.media/nfs...ar392875_2.gif BenjaminIs
- | Commercial Member | Joined Dec 2014 | 11,176 Posts | Online Now
CPPCFI
The Corporation for the Proactive Protection of Clients of Financial Institutions Inc.
The Corporation for the Proactive Protection of Clients of Financial Institutions Inc. is a service-based company that has been set up to assist and defend its Subscribers in their dealings with Canadian financial institutions. Additionally, it will focus attention on issues relating to corporate governance, integrity, and fairness towards all stakeholders in the financial sector and will press for changes in policy in those institutions that will benefit all their clients, including CPPCFI’s Subscribers.
CPPCFI Subscribers are clients of Canadian financial institutions such as banks, trust companies, insurance companies, stock brokerage firms and other investment dealers, consumer loan and leasing companies.
CPPCFI Subscribers are individual consumers and/or small business owners whose needs are not well served by banks (and other financial institutions) that tend to favour large businesses and wealthy individual depositors.
CPPCFI Subscribers are often unaware of their rights and often accept as not being negotiable whatever their bank tells them. Without an understanding of their bank's internal policies—policies that are little known and seldom acknowledged—our Subscribers find it difficult to negotiate with the above mentioned institutions and defend themselves against decisions that may appear arbitrary and discriminatory.
CPPCFI will provide its Subscribers with access to critical information, with legal counsel in relation to specific problems that may arise in their dealings with financial institutions, and with vigorous, highly competent advocacy in defence of their rights and interests.
CPPCFI will bring to a bank's attention any instance in which a Subscriber is not being treated fairly. Wherever possible, CPPCFI will negotiate a satisfactory resolution of disputes that arise between individual Subscribers and the financial institutions with which they do business.
The services rendered by CPPCFI to the Subscribers will be in consideration of a one-time fee of $25. The first 60,000 Founding Subscribers (who will be limited in number to 60,000) will have no future subscription fees to pay, as theirs will be a lifetime membership. All subscribers after the first 60,000 will pay an annual fee of $11.
Additional benefits to being a Founding Subscriber include opportunities to become directly involved with our organization. We also intend to eventually use a little-known section of the Bank Act that allows a shareholder owning a minimum of (1) share of any chartered bank in Canada to take advantage of a provision of the Bank Act that requires a chartered bank in Canada to call a Special General Meeting if the request for such a meeting is supported by more than five percent of eligible shareholder votes. A Special General Meeting can be the occasion to vote on or discuss any type of bank business, including the nomination of bank directors.
CPPCFI Structure and Operation
As soon as CPPCFI receives notice of a problem experienced by a Subscriber with a bank or other financial institution via regular mail, email or by fax, a telephone interview will be arranged with the Subscriber to clarify the circumstances and details of the problem. A confidential computerized file will be opened. The Subscriber can follow the progress of CPPCFI’s efforts to resolve the problem by accessing the Activity Log for his file (password protected) on the CPPCFI Web site.
1. Each dossier concerning a Subscriber’s problem opened by CPPCFI will be assigned to a member of the advocacy team. The work done on behalf of Subscribers will be followed at a higher level by the Advocacy Manager who heads that team.
2. All CPPCI employees who deal directly with Subscribers or who act on their behalf will first complete the CPPCFI internal training program that will equip them with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the banks and other financial institutions so that they will be able to act in an effective way on behalf of the Subscribers.
3. To ensure that CPPCFI never departs from its corporate mission and that it uses the funds received from Subscribers in ways that are in harmony with that mission, an independent Advisory Council will be formed. CPPCFI will invite the participation of various community bodies, associations, and advocacy groups that share CPPCFI’s interest in defending the rights of clients of Canadian financial institutions. Each such invited organization will nominate a representative who will sit on the Council. This independent body will nominate an Advisory Council Representative who will visit CPPCFI offices on a regular basis to verify that CPPCFI is fulfilling its mission in an effective way, with financial probity and full transparency. The Representative will report back to the members of the Advisory Council. CPPCFI’s Annual Report will include a statement on the year’s activities from the Advisory Council. CPPCFI's Operations Director will attend meetings of the Advisory Council to listen to suggestions as to how CPPCFI can better serve the constituency of each organization.
CPPCFI will make its annual audited financial statement available to the independent Advisory Council and to any Subscriber who requests a copy.
CPPCFI as a Catalyst for Change
The CPPCFI strongly believes that the best way to influence the chartered banks in Canada with regard to their attitude towards their clients and the actions they take that affect their most vulnerable clients is to have effective representation on the Board of Directors of each chartered bank in Canada.
The CPPCFI will therefore endeavour to place a minimum of three (3) Subscribers of the Corporation on the Board of Directors of each chartered bank. CPPCFI will ensure that each person put forward will be highly qualified to provide responsible and competent stewardship. To correct the very unequal representation of women on bank boards in this country, two of the three directors nominated by CPPCFI will normally be women.
CPPCFI will buy shares in each chartered bank and will obtain proxies from its shareholders, with a view to representing their collective interests in a strong voice at the Annual Meeting.
With a substantial number of proxies in hand, CPPCFI will be in a position to nominate independent Directors and, where necessary, to propose motions aimed at modifying policies that are prejudicial to small depositors. If CPPCFI does not succeed in getting its concerns onto the agenda of the Annual Meeting, use may be made of a provision of the Bank Act that requires a chartered bank in Canada to call a Special General Meeting if the request for such a meeting is supported by more than five percent of eligible shareholder votes.
Over the past few years, more and more criticism of Canadian banks has been heard from prominent people. Policies cited as being unacceptable have included:
· interest rates that do not follow general interest rate declines
· lax security associated with credit and debit cards that is an invitation to abuse, leading to higher costs for all
· unfair practices associated with payments of credit card accounts
· the great difficulties experienced by Canadian small business owners when they attempt to secure the credit margins they need to operate effectively.
For years, the banks have successfully stonewalled their critics. The CPPCFI will represent the interests of all Canadians with regard to unhelpful policies of Canadian chartered banks, including those that make life even more difficult for the most disadvantaged members of our society.
An example of such a discriminatory policy that is mandated by the top management of the chartered banks is the banks’ refusal to cash federal government cheques that the banks characterize as being “double-endorsed”. In the words of an employee of the largest Canadian chartered bank, “… We have the option to refuse the transaction of such a high-risk item…”. This policy chiefly affects the most marginalized citizens, those who may not have a bank account. The banks regularly refuse to open accounts for people in their situation. Because no service charge can be levied on the cashing of a federal government cheque, such transactions, however, are of no interest to the banks. The speciousness of the reason given above by the bank becomes evident when one learns that all that is needed to verify that a cheque issued by the federal government has not been stolen is to have the bank employee call the federal government office in Matane, Quebec at (418) 566-8034.
CPPCFI's efforts will complement and assist the work of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, (FCAC) that was created in October, 2001 by the federal government "to strengthen the oversight of consumer protection measures in the federally regulated financial services sector and to expand consumer education activities". The FCAC commits to "minimize the potential for serious or systemic breeches of the consumer provisions by addressing compliance issues [related to the consumer protection measures referred to above] as they arise ...". The FCAC has opened the door to collaboration with an organization such as the CPPCFI by stating that the monitoring tools it will employ "include studies by third parties and consumer groups".
Although banks are regulated by the OSFI (Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions), their policies are determined by bank management alone. In order to rectify a situation in which unfair policies are common, it may be necessary to change some of the upper-tier managers in Canada’s chartered banks. The oligopoly status of the Canadian banking system requires effective action by an organization like CPPCFI to ensure that banks address the needs of all their clients fairly.
International trade treaties are creating pressure on Canada to allow the entry of more foreign-owned companies in the financial services sector. By pressuring Canadian banks to do a better job answering the needs of their clients, CPPCFI's work can lead to Canadian financial institutions becoming stronger in the face of strong new competitors.
CPPCFI will initially focus on the services provided by chartered banks. Once it has grown in size and experience, the Corporation intends to act as a catalyst for change in other areas in which large numbers of consumers are vulnerable to unfair practices, i.e. insurance and consumer loan companies.
CPPCFI
The Corporation for the Proactive Protection of Clients of Financial Institutions Inc.
SUBSCRIPTION FORM FOR FOUNDING SUBSCRIBERS
Name of Subscriber _____________________________________________
Address of Subscriber _____________________________________________
Telephone Number _____________________________________________
Fax Number _____________________________________________
E-mail Address ______________________________________________
Amount Paid ______________________________________________
Payment mode ___ Check or ___ Cash
Payment Date __________________
Name of CPPCFI representative who received payment _______________________
Payment received in full (signature of CPPCFI representative ________________________
Subscriber’s Feedback _______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________