B.C. mortgage broker suspended for 3 years for working with unlicenced broker

A B.C. mortgage broker who made $34,000 in commission for facilitating multiple mortgages with an unlicenced colleague has been suspended for three years.

According to a Dec. 14 B.C. Financial Services Authority decision, Donna Catalina Baciu worked as a submortgage broker and paid an unlicensed broker $500 for each mortgage application he referred to her.

The B.C. Financial Services Authority said between December 2018 and January 2019, Baciu facilitated the unlicensed broker's applications for nine mortgages.

The decision didn't give the name of the unlicensed broker, but says a cease and desist order was issued against them in 2017 and one month later an industry alert went out.

Baciu admitted she received an industry alert, but says she didn't read it.

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The submortgage broker said she didn't think the broker had to be licenced as he was working for her as an unlicensed assistant.

"Ms. Baciu admits that (the unlicensed broker) had direct contact with the borrowers on all the transactions, and that (the unlicensed broker) accepted mortgage applications from the borrowers; and, thereafter provided instructions to her as to the financial information, qualifications and personal information of the borrowers for each transaction," the decision reads.

"Ms. Baciu admits that (the unlicensed broker) provided her with the borrowers’ financial information and personal documentation which she did not verify for its the accuracy or its authenticity; and thereafter, she submitted that information to lenders in support of the borrowers’ mortgage applications."

The decision said none of the documents provided to the lenders were inaccurate or falsified.

Baciu made $33,916 in commission for the mortgage she facilitated for the (unlicensed broker), according to the decision, and signed a consent agreement admitting to working with the unlicensed broker.

Ultimately, the Financial Services Authority barred Bacio from applying for a licence to be either a mortgage broker or a submortgage broker for 36 months and she will have to pay costs of $4,728.

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