Submitted by nsscadmin on
Anyone advising on or selling securities in the province of Nova Scotia must be registered with the Nova Scotia Securities Commission unless an exemption applies. We talk about registration frequently because it is one of the protections put in place so that investors know the person they are dealing with is being overseen by a regulator and is required to abide by securities laws.
Checking registration is simple and takes only a few minutes. To check the registration of an individual, firm, or company offering investments go to the Canadian Securities Administrators National Registration Search. Here you can enter the name of the individual, firm, or company and if they are registered, you will be shown their current registration information. This will include the provinces and territories they are registered in and their category of registration.
Why are these two pieces of information important? To offer securities to residents of a province or territory you must be registered in that province or territory. For example, if someone is only registered in Ontario, they are not allowed to sell securities in any other province.
Did you know there are different categories of registration? A person’s category of registration determines what investment products they can sell you. This is important to know when working with an adviser so that you know what investment products they can and can’t offer you.
One last thing regarding registration. What about “unless an exemption applies?” To know if an exemption applies you may want to know what these exemptions are. To help with this, take a look at our old blog post What are the exemptions to registration? It outlines what the exemptions to registration are, and how they apply. If someone tells you they are exempt from registration, ask them how and what exemption they’re using, and make sure it is a real exemption and that they qualify.