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by Mike Caswell

Former Vancouver broker Ula Hartner has accepted an 18-month suspension and $45,000 in financial penalties from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada for excessive trading. IIROC said that she placed scores of orders in the accounts of her clients as part of a failed options strategy. The trading caused $513,775 in client losses, while generating $108,351 in commissions.

The sanctions for Ms. Hartner are contained in a settlement agreement that IIROC released on Monday, Feb. 26. In addition to the 18-month suspension, Ms. Hartner must serve 12 months of close supervision if she returns to the industry. Her financial penalty includes a $40,000 fine and $5,000 in IIROC's costs.

The penalty stems from an options strategy that Ms. Hartner set up for her clients in early 2015, when she worked at National Bank Financial Inc. The strategy was designed to take advantage of a theory that the financial markets had peaked and were due for a correction. (The markets did indeed fall considerably in 2015. Despite that, the strategy was a disaster for Ms. Hartner's clients.)

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