Ethics and Professional Conduct
Duties owed
Representatives owe clients honesty, competence, confidentiality, and loyalty. Conflicts of interest must be identified, disclosed in writing, and managed - or avoided where management is impossible. Know the rules on referral fees, gifts, and outside business activities, and the prohibition on misleading advertising or guaranteeing approval. Confidentiality survives the end of the relationship, subject to legal compulsion and FINTRAC reporting.
Integrity in practice
Ethical questions often present a tempting shortcut: inflating income, 'parking' a down payment, backdating a document, or advising a client to misstate employment. Each is a violation regardless of client consent. Representatives must also avoid borrowing from or lending to clients, and must not act under a power of attorney for a client in a transaction. Know the duty to report misconduct and to cooperate with AMF inquiries.
Traps
Watch for 'the client asked me to' as a justification (irrelevant), 'everyone does it' (irrelevant), and the suggestion that a small undisclosed referral fee is harmless (it is not). Another trap: assuming confidentiality prevents reporting suspected fraud - it does not; suspicious-transaction reporting is mandatory.
Worked example
A client asks you to state income of $95,000 on an application when their documented income is $70,000. The correct response is to refuse, explain that the application must reflect verified income, and document the conversation. Submitting the inflated figure - even at the client's request - exposes both of you to licence discipline and potential fraud liability.