It’s a matter of honour and integrity

Why you can put your complete trust in your financial services professional.

More financial scandals. More things for investors and consumers to worry about. The latest stories about fraudulent “financial advisors” who bilked their clients out of their savings serve
to remind us that, when it comes to financial advice, trust is everything. But that trust must be sustained in concrete terms, with mechanisms and a monitoring system that protects the client.

This is what you get with every financial services professional associated with SFL Partner of Desjardins Financial Security (SFL). Your SFL representative is proud to belong to and represent a prestigious organization whose credibility and commitment rest on decades of service to clients just like you. Above all, your SFL advisor is proud to put the full strength and solidity of one of Canada’s most powerful financial networks to work for you. That’s why we advisors make one –and only one – promise: to promote your interests above all else, day in and day out.

Without that commitment, we would simply not be SFL financial services professionals.

Not just anyone can work at SFL

All SFL financial services professionals actually work hand in hand with a first-rate financial product and services distributor: SFL Partner of Desjardins Financial Security (SFL), which is backed by Desjardins Financial Security (DFS), the fifth-largest personal insurer in Canada. With 40 financial centres and more than 1,200 financial services professionals across the country, SFL is one of the leading distributors in the Canadian financial services industry.

Desjardins Financial Security helps more than five million Canadians achieve financial security. The company itself is a member of the Desjardins Group, the largest cooperative financial group in Canada, with assets of more than $152 billion.

It goes without saying that the financial soundness and reputation of the company you have chosen are above all suspicion. But there’s even more: SFL also uses an extremely stringent system to monitor the practices of its advisors.

Regular audits

The organization makes sure that its associates keep their professional licenses and/or certifications (financial security advisor, group savings plan representative) current at all times. Associates must also complete mandatory continuing education, in keeping with current laws and regulations.

Should there ever be any doubt as to the nature of a transaction or decision, your representative benefits from the support of regulatory compliance officers and lawyers who work for Desjardins Financial Security. In fact, they periodically visit every SFL financial centre to conduct audits of associates’ business affairs. 

Furthermore, when you buy a financial product through your advisor, your cheque is made out payable either to the financial institution with which you do business or in trust to SFL Investments. This guarantees that your money is allocated directly and exclusively to the purchase of products issued by the largest providers of insurance and investment products in Canada, and cannot be used for any other purpose.

Verified by you

The fact that you are doing business with one of the most reputable financial institutions in the country is reason alone to have complete confidence. But anyone who buys insurance or investment products can always check to make sure that a Financial Security Advisors or Group Savings Plan Representative is duly registered with the regulatory authorities and is not subject to disciplinary sanctions. For individual financial advisors, the authority is the Chambre de la Sécurité financière and for companies, it is the Autorité des marchés financiers. Both organizations are mandated to ensure that all advisors operate in full compliance with the law.

You can therefore place your complete confidence in your SFL financial services professional for two reasons: because his or her practice is governed by very specific legal requirements, and because he or she is backed by the full weight of one of the largest financial institutions in the country.