Unlicensed Institutions - Canada

Published on: 13 February 2003

This notice is issued by the Financial Supervision Commission (“The Commission”) in accordance with the powers conferred upon it under Section 22 of the Financial Supervision Act 1988

The Commission have been made aware that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of Canada (OSFI) has issued a Warning Notice concerning entities claiming links with Canada which are not authorized Canadian financial institutions. OSFI also warn that the listed institutions are fictional entities and may be part of various “Nigerian/African” advance fee scams.

The listed entities are:

Transamerica Investors Group – address not known
(Not connected with Transamerica Life Canada, a legitimate insurance company, or its affiliates)

Sun Trust Insurance Company of Canada / Sun Trust Financial – Affordable Lending Group – 1244 Union Street Lansing MI 48906 USA

The Commission is drawing attention to these entities in order to assist the due diligence process of any of its licenceholders which may have dealings with them. The Commission emphasises that this warning applies to the entities using the above listed details. You should note that there may be genuine institutions with names resembling those of the above entities. It is a common ploy of fraudsters to use names which are similar to those of genuine regulated entities. If you are in any doubt as to whether a financial entity is genuine, the Commission would recommend, as a first resort, verifying details with the relevant Regulatory Authorities in its claimed country of belonging.

A full list of entities on Warning Circulars, Notices or Advisories issued by OSFI is available.

Persons having queries regarding the Notice issued by OSFI may contact the OSFI Compliance Division by telephoning +1 416 973 6117 or by email to: alerte@osfi-bsif.gc.ca

Licenceholders having any queries regarding this Commission Public Notice may address them to the Commission’s Enforcement Division on +44 1624 689313 or by email to fsc@gov.im

FSC Reference: JPM/04/2003