Registered Accounts Hubert <> Concentra Trust (EQ) | Hubert Financial | Discussion forum

someusername7 said
So, registered TFSA accounts at the credit union are under control of Concentra Trust (part of EQ Bank) as the trustee of a member's funds. The deposits a member makes to Hubert are placed on deposit by the TRUSTEE. There are several repercussions I see.

- The depositor CANNOT use the deposit as security against any debts.
- The trustee can charge fees and incur expenses against the depositor and the trustee can withdraw and/or sell-withdraw investments as payment WITHOUT prior approval or instruction.
- And being that Concentra is a federally regulated entity, would that mean the CDIC insurance is in play (as some legal loophole) at $100K?

A revelation. Is this normal "practice" (not surprising)? Do you know where your deposits are and whom holds them and what powers they have over them??  

A TFSA can be used as security / collateral for a loan or other credit product. It's a registered plan, so the assets are legally segregated from your comingled non-registered accounts held with EQ Bank (a division of Equitable Bank) and held in a sort of registered account wrapper, trusteed by a federally or provincially regulated trust company. It's often a different entity from the entity that holds your bank accounts.

The CDIC insurance goes with the deposit product, not the registered account wrapper. While it's true Concentra Trust also issues GICs and is a CDIC member institution, in this case, it's a different side of the business, their registered plan trustee / recordkeeping business that handles recordkeeping and safekeeping of client assets. If you had a Concentra Trust GIC inside a TFSA trusteed by Concentra Trust, then the Concentra Trust GIC would be insured separately from the EQ Bank GIC inside the same TFSA. In this case, Hubert Financial is part of Access Credit Union, which is not a CDIC member, so deposit insurance is through Deposit Guarantee Corporation of Manitoba. Does that make sense?

Also, it's important to note that EQ Bank, or, in this case, Access Credit Union Ltd can change its registered plan trustees at any time, providing clients with any required notice as they are required to give, with your registered plans moving from one trust company to another.

The fees Concentra Trust may charge for withdrawals (from their website) are not necessarily the same fees you will be charged. Those withdrawal fees will be detailed to you by EQ Bank in your TFSA disclosure statement.

Hope that clarifies,
Doug

There are three ways to arrange a TFSA:

1. TFSA deposit contract
2. TFSA annuity contract
3. TFSA trust

There is nothing nefarious about #3, a TFSA trust with a trustee. All the TFSA's from brokers, like Scotia iTRADE and BMO InvestorLine, are TFSA trusts.

Yeah but in the cases Norman1 mentioned, i.e. the brokerages, they would use the Trust Company within their bank family.

BTW, when EQ bought Concentra Bank/Concentra Trust, a big part of that acquisition was stated as:

Synergy with credit unions: Concentra's existing role as the largest wholesale banking and trust provider for Canadian credit unions created a strong philosophical bond and provided Equitable with a larger role in serving these institutions.