Regulator cites serious non-compliance and integrity concerns
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has revoked the mortgage brokerage licence of Monarch Mortgage Group Inc. and denied a mortgage broker licence to Victor Peca, citing regulatory non-compliance and concerns regarding integrity.
According to FSRA, Peca, who previously served as Monarch’s principal broker, provided false or misleading information in his application for a mortgage broker licence. He also failed to submit required information to the regulator and did not take necessary measures to ensure Monarch’s compliance with industry regulations, including maintaining errors and omissions insurance and making mandatory filings.
Peca applied for a new mortgage broker licence on April 3, 2023 while criminal charges – which were later resolved without a finding of guilt – were still outstanding. FSRA said Peca answered “no” in the application’s question of whether he had ever pleaded guilty or been found guilty of an offence under any law in any province, territory, state, or country or whether he was currently the subject of any charges.
It also said he does not meet the qualifications to be a principal broker as he has not completed a private mortgages course, which is required of brokers per new mortgage agent and broker licensing rules that came into effect last year.
FSRA said its staff had made multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact Peca by email and phone between April and November 2023 and that he did not respond to communications sent by email or retrieve registered mail. In September 2023, Peca answered the telephone and advised he would reply to FSRA’s emails but the regulator said he had not provided responses to its enquiries.
Monarch failed to file annual information returns (AIRs) for 2022 and 2023, FSRA said, and also failed to maintain errors and omissions insurance coverage after July 1, 2022.
FSRA determined that Peca’s past conduct raised reasonable concerns about his ability to conduct mortgage brokering activities in accordance with the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006 (the Act), and its associated regulations. A news release highlighted that these findings also contributed to FSRA’s decision to revoke Monarch’s licence.
Peca was licensed as a mortgage agent in 2009 and as a mortgage broker since the same year, although that broker licence expired in March 2023.
“Peca is not suitable to hold a licence as a mortgage broker because his past conduct affords reasonable grounds for belief, he will not conduct mortgage brokering in accordance with the Act, its regulations, and with integrity and honesty. Peca’s conduct also provides reasonable grounds to believe that Monarch is no longer suitable to be licensed,” the regulator stated.
Neither Monarch nor Peca contested FSRA’s proposal or requested a hearing regarding the matter, the news release noted.
The announcement follows a series of notices issued this month against non-compliant individuals, including the revocation of Shah Ata Hussain Faridi’s licence and penalties imposed on Ulrich Fabrice Avognon and Avraj Singh Dulay.
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