Reason for this visit

The foreign exchange market is extremely unique in Canada, since the country has its own financial authority, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), which provides a unified management of all financial industries. Meanwhile, CSA set up its subsidiary body, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), in 2008, which is primarily responsible for the regulation of the retail foreign exchange market. And the IIROC has independently built many low-level regulatory bodies supervising three regions and ten provinces respectively. All these institutions release multiple independent laws and regulations. The integration of unity and differentiation in regulation makes the Canadian forex market the most complex in the world. In order to help investors or practitioners to get a more comprehensive understanding of the country's foreign exchange brokers, WikiFX survey team decides to go to Canada for on-site visits to local companies.

On-site visit

In this issue, the survey team went to Canada to visit the forex broker PI Financial as planned according to its regulatory address that 666 Burrard Street, Suite 1900, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3N1.

The investigators arrived at 666 Burrard Street in Canada on November 17, 2023, and located “Park Place”, a high-rise office building, in a financial area in Downtown Vancouver in close proximity to the Burrard Station of SkyTrain and other commercial buildings.

After entering the building for further investigation, the survey personnel spotted a digital directory, reception area, and security in the lobby. The directory didn‘t display any information relating to PI Financial. However, people weren’t allowed to use the elevator without an access card. According to the security guards, the 19th floor of the building wasn‘t accessible due to not being in service, and PI Financial didn’t rent any office in Park Place.

Through the on-site survey, it is confirmed that the company doesnt have a physical presence at the place.

Conclusion

The survey team went to Canada to visit forex broker PI Financial as scheduled, but didn‘t find the company at the regulatory address. This indicates that the broker doesn’t have a physical business office at the location. Therefore, investors are advised to make a sensible decision following a comprehensive consideration.

Disclaimer

The content is used for informational purpose only, and shall not be taken as a final order for making a choice.