News Release

Vancouver – Two former securities dealers must pay $95,000 to the British Columbia Securities Commission for breaching securities laws in selling securities to their B.C. clients.

In a settlement with the BCSC, DPM Securities Inc., an investment dealer, and The Height of Excellence Financial Planning Group Inc., a mutual fund dealer, admitted that they breached numerous securities laws in selling limited partnerships units to their clients.

The breaches included:
· DPM and Height of Excellence used disclosure documents to sell the partnership units that were not prepared in accordance with securities laws.
· Height of Excellence permitted its mutual fund salespersons to sell the partnership units when they were not registered to sell them.
· The dealers sold some clients partnership units that did not meet their general investment needs and objectives.
· The dealers failed to give clients adequate account statements about their investments.
· The dealers did not fulfill their compliance obligations when they failed to review the sales of the partnership units to ensure they were suitable investments for their clients.
· Height of Excellence failed to keep a complete and accurate paper record of its client transactions.

DPM and Height of Excellence are no longer registered to sell securities in B.C. DPM has agreed to pay the BCSC $60,000. Height of Excellence has agreed to pay the BCSC $35,000. These payments include the commissions earned by the dealers in selling the partnership units.

John Wilson Howard and James Gordon Armit were mainly responsible for reviewing the sales of the limited partnerships by the dealers. They have agreed not to apply to be compliance officers in B.C.

The British Columbia Securities Commission is an independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities. You can view the settlement through the BCSC website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Andrew Poon, Media Relations, 604-899-6880.