Investigating aggravating & mitigating factors considered by IIROC in penalty imposition

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyze the aggravating and mitigating factors considered by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) hearing panels in penalty imposition. This research is based on data from 386 individual offender sanction hearings between 2008 and 2019 that were collected from IIROC’s website. Descriptive and correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. The findings from this research indicate that mitigating factors have more influence on penalties than aggravating factors. More than two-thirds of the frequently found mitigating factors considered by IIROC are related to post-offense. Another significant finding is that more than two-thirds of the frequent aggravating factors considered are also found in the frequently identified but not considered aggravating factors. These findings indicate that hearing panels were using mitigating factors to mitigate sanctions as opposed to the aggravating factors, which can escalate sanctions. It is hard not to see the Ontario Securities Commission and Ottawa not using the findings to inform self-regulatory reforms in Canada.