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Generating

Companion Policy to NI 81-102 Investment Funds
Part 11 Commingling of Cash
Section 11.1

Commingling of Cash

(1)Part 11 of the Instrument requires principal distributors and participating dealers to account separately for cash they may receive for the purchase of, or upon the redemption of, investment fund securities. Those principal distributors and participating dealers are prohibited from commingling any cash so received with their other assets or with cash held for the purchase or upon the sale of securities of other types of securities. The Canadian securities regulatory authorities are of the view that this means that dealers may not deposit into the trust accounts established under Part 11 cash obtained from the purchase or sale of other types of securities such as guaranteed investment certificates, government treasury bills, segregated funds or bonds.

(2) Subsection s 11.1(2) and 11.2(2) of the Instrument state that principal distributors and participating dealers, respectively, may not use any cash received for the investment in investment fund securities to finance their own operations. The Canadian securities regulatory authorities are of the view that any costs associated with returned client cheques that did not have sufficient funds to cover a trade (“NSF cheques”) are a cost of doing business and should be borne by the applicable principal distributor or participating dealer and should not be offset by interest income earned on the trust accounts established under Part 11 of the Instrument.

(3) No overdraft positions should arise in these trust accounts.

(4) Subsections 11.1(3) and 11.2(3) of the instrument prescribe the circumstances under which a principal distributor or participating dealer, respectively, may withdraw funds from the trust accounts established under Part 11 of the instrument. This would prevent the practice of “lapping”. Lapping occurs as a result of the timing differences between trade date and settlement date, when cash of an investment fund client held for a trade which has not yet settled is used to settle a trade for another investment fund client who has not provided adequate cash to cover the settlement of that other trade on the settlement date. The Canadian securities regulatory authorities view this practice as a violation of sections 11.1(3) and 11.2(3) of the instrument.

(5)Subsection s 11.1(4) and 11.2(4) of the Instrument require that interest earned on cash held in the trust accounts established under Part 11 of the Instrument be paid to the applicable investment fund or its securityholders “pro rata based on cash flow”. The Canadian securities regulatory authorities are of the view that this requirement means, in effect, that the applicable investment fund or securityholder should be paid the amount of interest that the investment fund or securityholder would have received had the cash held in trust for that investment fund or securityholder been the only cash held in that trust account.

(6) Paragraph 11.3(b) of the Instrument requires that trust accounts maintained in accordance with sections 11.1 or 11.2 of the Instrument bear interest “at rates equivalent to comparable accounts of the financial institution”. A type of account that ordinarily pays zero interest may be used for trust accounts under sections 11.1 or 11.2 of the Instrumentso long as zero interest is the rate of interest paid on that type of account for all depositors other than trust accounts.