November 16, 2019
“At Cidel, we take the issue of financial fraud very seriously. This is a
growing issue facing financial services and many other industries. Cidel
has robust compliance policies and procedures in place to implement wire
transfers. Our practices meet, and in many cases, exceed the wire transfer
protocols adhered to by the Canadian financial services industry. We
continually work with industry experts and regulators to ensure that we
maintain rigorous policies and procedures so we can deliver exceptional
services to our clients.
We are greatly concerned with the fraudulent actions of a third party that
appear to have targeted one of our clients. Cidel was not a party to the
underlying real estate transaction, and we acted in accordance with the
express written and signed wire instructions that were delivered to us by
our client. In addition, we confirmed those wire instructions directly with our
client by means of a live telephone call. We are confident that Cidel acted
diligently and in full compliance with all industry practices. We provided
considerable assistance to our client to help him address this unfortunate
circumstance, and we cooperated fully with law enforcement authorities.
Cidel will continue to offer assistance to our client in their effort to recover
their funds from an unscrupulous third party.
Since this matter is now before the courts, we are not in a position to
provide further comment at this time.”
- Craig Rimer, CEO of Cidel Bank Canada