Former mortgage professional continued to use restricted titles 'broker' and 'agent' even after losing licence
Ontario's mortgage regulator has handed out nine administrative penalties totalling $75,000 and issued a compliance order against a broker.
The case against Yashna Singh, which stretched from Singh’s 2022 termination to a 2025 hearing, underlined the willingness of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to pursue individuals it viewed as repeatedly flouting the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act.
Singh has been licensed as a mortgage broker in Ontario from 2008 until Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada terminated her for cause in August 2022, triggering an automatic loss of licence. FSRA investigated and, in February 2024, issued a notice of proposal alleging she continued to deal in mortgages, took fees outside her brokerage, operated an unlicensed brokerage and misrepresented her status on regulatory paperwork.
From termination to compliance order
In its reasons, the Financial Services Tribunal found that Singh arranged multiple mortgages outside Mortgage Alliance and “received $14,000 in fees for those three mortgages” directly from law firms rather than through her authorizing brokerage. It said these were “not innocent mistakes” but “deliberate efforts to be paid fees outside of Mortgage Alliance.”
The panel also found that Singh “gave false information when dealing in Client 1’s mortgage” by submitting an application that listed $120,000 in annual income she knew was inaccurate, and later brokered another mortgage for remuneration while unlicensed.
After losing her licence, Singh continued to use the restricted titles “Broker” and “Agent” in email signatures and maintained signage and online branding under “Best Choice Mortgage and Financial Services” despite FSRA’s direction to remove them. The Tribunal concluded that her conduct “exposed the public to harm” by creating the impression she was a licensed brokerage.
Part of a wider FSRA crackdown
The order against Singh followed earlier FSRA moves against her, including a 2024 enforcement action “against mortgage agent Yashna Singh for allegedly breaking several industry rules,” including operating an unlicensed brokerage and using restricted titles without proper licensing.
FSRA also revoked the licences of 29 Ontario brokerages for failures including neglecting required filings, a decision it said was necessary because “a brokerage is not authorized to operate without a principal broker.” The regulator has also imposed six-figure penalties and licence revocations in other cases involving unlicensed activities and serious compliance breaches.
In Singh’s matter, the Tribunal said a compliance order was “required and justified” to stop ongoing misconduct and to “deter deceptive or fraudulent conduct in the mortgage sector” by excluding those who ignore licensing rules and transparency obligations.
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