Compliance best practices  

Your clients rely on your advice. Let’s make sure the confidence they place in you is deserved.  

Here are compliant marketing practices for creating client-focused promotional materials. Follow them when creating social media profiles, posts, videos, podcasts, newsletters, emails and any other ways you want to connect with your clients and prospects.  

Are you a Canada Life advisor operating under the Canada Life brand? 

Here are some tips and tricks to help you remain compliant: 

  • Your company name must be Canada Life. Only use titles or designations you’re licensed for and that are allowed in your province.  
  • For Quadrus Investment Services Ltd., your approved title is Investment Representative.  
  • Only discuss or provide information on products or services you are licensed to offer. For example, if you don’t have your securities license, you can’t talk about trading stocks.  
  • Use Canada Life logos and brand elements with permission  
  • Don’t share proprietary or confidential Canada Life information  
  • If you take your own photos or purchase stock images, avoid images with cluttered backgrounds or obvious text from other brands.   
  • Use approved Canada Life cover images on DOX to make sure you’re on brand. 
  • The following disclosure must appear on your social media platforms: ‘Canada Life and design are trademarks of The Canada Life Assurance Company and used under license’ 

Quadrus Investment Services Ltd.  

  • When discussing or promoting investments (mutual funds) on any custom blog posts, articles, newsletters that you’ve written yourself, you’ll need to submit your content to Quadrus Compliance for approval 
  • Materials that promote investments, specifically mutual funds, require compliant branding and disclosures. If you are a registered Quadrus investment representative, you must include this dual disclosure on your website and social media platforms:  
    • If you’re a Canada Life-branded advisor: Insurance products, including segregated fund policies are offered through Canada Life, and Investment Representative <<name>> offers mutual funds and referral arrangements through Quadrus Investment Services Ltd.   
    • If you’re a self-branded advisor: Insurance products, including segregated fund policies are offered through [[Incorporated name]], and [[Investment Representative name]] offers mutual funds and referral arrangements through Quadrus Investment Services Ltd. Any activity in relation to my title as [[Corporate title]] of [[Incorporated name]] is related to my insurance business only, and is not the business of/or under the supervision of Quadrus Investment Services Ltd.   
  • Your social media profiles require Quadrus Compliance approval. Please send your social media profile to the Quadrus Compliance mailbox and cc your Regional Compliance Consultant (RCC).    
  • Depending on the content, additional branding and disclosures may be required. Quadrus Compliance can help you ensure your content is compliant.  


Social media  

  • Create distinct professional accounts for your business when you set up your social media profiles. Don’t use your personal social accounts for work.   
  • Write a short and compelling profile or “about me” page highlighting why a customer would want to work with you. Use these tips to guide you.    
  • Use these guidelines to help you take a professional photo.  
  • Make sure you turn on the comment feature in your social media channels – respectfully interact with your connections in a timely manner.  
  • Don’t offer investment advice in the comments section or through direct messaging.  
  • Don’t speak outside of your scope of registration.  
     

Producing content   

  • Only use titles or designations you’re licensed for and that are allowed in your province and only discuss or provide information on products or services you are licensed to offer.  
  • Your advice should be based on your client’s specific needs; you can’t advertise a specific investment product (e.g., ABC Equity fund). 
  • Link to content that’s relevant to a Canadian audience.  
  • Don’t link to content that promotes products outside of your scope of registration.  
  • Don’t discuss fund performance, rates of return or product details.   
  • Don’t make absolute statements that cannot be verified or that may not be accurate (e.g., largest, worst, safest, superior, lowest, best, most, guaranteed).   
  • If you quote content from publications, websites or social media, you must have permission from the author or publisher to use it. Keep a copy of their approval.  
  • Get consent to use a comment or opinion and keep it on file.  
  • Don’t take logos, images or other people’s content from the internet. If you use content that isn’t yours, you could be violating copyright laws.  
  • Provide reputable sources for statements, statistics or facts you use.  
  • Don’t use comfort wording (e.g., peace of mind, give you comfort, help you sleep at night, etc.)  
  • Use clear, plain language that an average consumer would understand. 
  • Don’t promote competitors or their products, including products offered through Quadrus’ referral program.  
  • Don’t criticize another advisor, competitor or their products.  


Email marketing, newsletters  

  • Make sure you’re compliant with Canadian anti-spam legislation (CASL) if you send opt-in email newsletters – that means members have volunteered to sign up and it’s easy to unsubscribe.  
  • Canada Life-branded advisors: Fill out this form for approval to use third-party vendors likes Salesforce, MailChimp and SendGrid to send your emails from your Canada Life email address. This helps ensure your clients’ personal information remains confidential. If you don’t get the vendor approved, your email campaign may be blocked by Canada Life servers.  
     

Sponsorships, contests  

  • If you’re thinking about a sponsorship opportunity, don’t forget perception is everything. Partner with appropriate groups or associations.  
  • There are strict regulations for contests and draws. Ensure they meet federal and provincial requirements.  
  • Canada Life-branded advisors: if you’re thinking about a sponsorship opportunity, check with advisor compliance first, to ensure they meet federal and provincial regulations.  
  • It’s important to clearly communicate the rules around your contest or draw. Here’s a sample of what you may need to include in your draw:  
    • Contest open to those 18 years of age and older. Draw will be held on April 26, 2021. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. There is no limit on the number of contest participants. 
       

Quebec advisors  

  • Use your address indicated in your licensing records on your marketing materials.  
  • Did you know? If you’re an advisors incorporated in Quebec, you may not use the Canada Life logos and brand.  
  • In Quebec, you may only use the titles and designations authorized by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) for the sectors of activity in which you are authorized to practise.  
  • Quebec-based advisors with a social media profile in a language other than French must also have a French account or a bilingual account (French/other language).  


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