Montreal, April 16, 2024 – The Chambre de la sécurité financière (CSF) is proud to unveil its 2023 annual report, highlighting its ongoing commitment in a constantly evolving Quebec financial landscape. This document showcases CSF’s proactivity in the face of growing challenges in the distribution of financial products and services industry, and its role with its approximately 34,000 members as well as industry stakeholders to ensure better protection of the public.

"The successful execution of the 2021-2023 strategic plan represents a colossal achievement, particularly in 2023, where the CSF was able to act, and deploy structuring initiatives based on key themes such as public protection, collaboration with stakeholders, organizational performance, as well as maintaining the highest standards of governance," emphasized M^e Marie Elaine Farley, President and CEO of CSF. "As we approach our 25th year of existence, the CSF has reached an exemplary level of maturity that allows us to constantly innovate our methods as well as the tools we offer for the development of our members' skills and professional ethics. We have also redoubled our efforts in terms of continuing education, adapting our offerings to the evolving needs of our members while strengthening our actions to protect the public," added M^e Farley.

Strategic plan 2021-2023: Mission accomplished!

Over the past three years, particularly in 2023, CSF focused its actions on four major themes: protection (by combining members’ skills and public protection), collaboration with stakeholders (by operating at the heart of an ecosystem), performance (by becoming an efficient, agile, and credible organization), and finally, rigor for maintaining the highest standards of governance. The achievement of the 2021-2023 strategic plan allowed CSF to become an organization with greater added value for both its various stakeholders and the public it protects.

At the heart of challenges faced by Quebec society

In 2023, CSF strengthened its partnerships with organizations that share its mission of public protection, as evidenced by the annual report. The CSF intensified its efforts to unite its partners around common goals, thereby stimulating the realization of activities beneficial to both professionals supervised by the CSF and the general public. For example, the launch of the Argent, inégalités et société Chair, created in partnership with the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), was a significant milestone in implementing its professional development strategy to offer financial services advisors tools and training activities to better understand the challenges of certain clienteles and adapt their services accordingly.

At the heart of practice

The CSF also intensified its efforts in terms of providing professional continuing education options. The annual training event, ProLab, was a resounding success, illustrating its relevance in line with members' needs. In parallel, CSF undertook a series of consultations with experts from various practice sectors, identifying the multidisciplinary skills that advisors will need to master in order to adapt to changing client needs. These additional efforts, particularly towards the end of the continuous training period, resulted in tangible benefits, observed among other things through the widespread adoption of the Dealer/Firm Portal, now firmly entrenched in the practices of many compliance teams in the sector, contributing to a high compliance rate among members.

As a pillar of public protection, the disciplinary committee plays an essential role in CSF’s mission, in addition to contributing to strengthening consumer confidence in the financial sector. The renewal of its composition in 2023 once again demonstrated members' commitment to a disciplinary regime based on peer expertise. Throughout the year, the CSF continued its efforts to promote ethical and responsible conduct among its members, thus ensuring integrity and transparency in financial advice.

Finally, in 2023, CSF began developing its 2024-2026 strategic plan, consulting all its stakeholders to gather their concerns and suggestions related to its public protection mission. This process led to a new vision statement for the Chambre: to become a fully recognized influential leader for its added value and innovations, its unifying approach, and its contributions to supporting public confidence in financial services.

The Chambre de la sécurité financière will hold its annual general meeting in Quebec City on May 9th. To learn more, download the CSF's 2023 annual report (French).