ScotiaMcLeod is a retail division of Scotia Capital Inc. (“SCI”). SCI is a market participant and an investment dealer regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (“CIRO”). SCI seeks to provide best execution when accepting client instructions to transact in securities and derivatives, as well as unlisted securities and has internal policies and procedures to achieve best execution.
Best Execution means obtaining the most advantageous execution terms for a client order that are reasonably available under the circumstances. SCI provides best execution by considering a range of factors including, but not limited to, the following:
Instructions of the client
Price
Speed of execution
Certainty of execution
Overall cost of the transaction to the client (including potential opportunity cost)
Conflicts of interest for order handling and execution
Order size
Reliability of quotes
Liquidity
Market impact
Order Handling for Listed and Unlisted (OTC) Securities
I. Listed Securities
SCI will also consider the prevailing market conditions for listed securities including:
Direction of the market for the security
Depth of the posted market
Last sale price
Prices and volumes of previous trades
Size of the spread
Order and trade information from all appropriate marketplaces
Selection of most appropriate marketplace
SCI may send orders to any Canadian marketplace. If the conditions are more advantageous, client orders may be sent to foreign exchanges with consideration placed on exchange rates, market conditions, and potential liquidity in Canada.
Client orders may also be routed to third party broker dealers or foreign intermediaries including an affiliate or another market participant in a foreign jurisdiction. Orders routed to an intermediary will be subject to the order handling and routing practices of that intermediary.
SCI will review the order handling and routing practices of any intermediary where orders are routed to determine that best execution is being achieved. Where a marketplace operates inefficiently SCI will take necessary steps to either re-route an order or by-pass a marketplace entirely.
Standard Order Handling
Regular trading hours: Regular trading hours for trading in publicly listed Canadian securities is between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST). Monday through Friday, not including statutory Canadian holidays
Order received prior to 9:30am EST: Orders received after midnight and prior to 9:30 a.m. will be entered into the trade execution systems in accordance with the trade instructions.
Orders received after 4:00 pm EST: Day orders will be entered the next business day to the pre-opening of a marketplace with market hours from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm EST unless specified by the investor for execution in the after-hours markets or pre-market open the next day.
Order treatment and routing: Orders received after the opening of a marketplace, will be routed to the marketplace with the best available liquidity and pricing (best execution) through the use of Smart Order Router Technology. Unfilled orders will expire on the marketplace where the order was last routed. Extended/after-hours and pre-market facilities are available for certain marketplaces. Clients should contact their advisor for further details.
Moving an order to an alternate marketplace: We may move an order entered on one marketplace to another marketplace in our discretion in order to achieve best execution. Situations which may result in an order movement include:
An alternate marketplace demonstrating a better chance of fill
Technical or operational issues with the original marketplace
Change in client instructions
Special Order Types
Please contact your Advisor of information on special order types.
II. Over the Counter Securities — Fixed Income
SCI will make a reasonable effort to provide or procure fair market price for each client order for OTC securities in relation to prevailing market conditions such as volatility, general supply, demand, and market context of the security at the time of the transaction.
Commissions and/or services charges may be applied to OTC trades. Please contact your Advisor for further information on these fees.
Conflicts Disclosure
Fees and Payments SCI pays fees or receives payments to and from marketplaces. These fees and payment (rebates) are disclosed on the websites of the marketplaces. In executing your orders, we incur certain costs and, in seeking the best execution of your trades, we may achieve certain trade efficiencies that result in a lowering of our costs to the benefit of the firm. We also earn revenue such as trade commissions in executing your trades. Depending on the market or marketplace to which your orders may be routed, we may receive remuneration for directing orders to a particular broker-dealer or market center for execution and revenue from a conversion of currency in respect of the trade. We will not pass along any order execution costs, nor refund any rebates associated with order execution directly to our clients.
Agency vs. Principal Trading SCI may act as agent or principal to orders. The capacity of agent or principle is disclosed on trade confirmations.
International Investment Advisory
International investment advisory services are provided in Canada by Scotia Capital Inc.
