Winnipeg, August 27, 2001 - The Manitoba Securities Commission would like to advise Manitoba residents that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has issued a Notice of Proposal to revoke the registration of the Canadian Corporation Creation Centre (CCCC) Pension Plan, and announced that the Ontario Deputy Superintendent, Pension Division, is acting as the administrator of the pension plan effective August 3, 2001.

Doug Brown, the Manitoba Securities Commission Director of Legal and Enforcement indicated that the Commission has been advised by FSCO that these steps were taken because the pension plan does not have a properly constituted administrator, and that there were a number of recent activities of the plan that appear to contravene the legislative requirements of the Ontario Pension Benefits Act, R.S.O. 1990 (Act).

The action by FSCO may be of interest to Manitoba residents who recently answered advertisements placed in local newspapers promoting a scheme that offered to convert locked in pension monies into loans. A person who agreed to transfer his or her locked in pension monies to the CCCC Pension Plan received a loan from the promoters of the plan. In return for receiving the loan participants in the scheme were required to pay approximately 30% of the value of their locked in pension monies to the promoters. In effect, the scheme took advantage of Canadians in financial difficulty by lending them a portion of their own money.

Information received by the Commission suggests the scheme in Manitoba involved CCCC and made reference to a related company NBI Trust. The promoters of the scheme left Manitoba shortly after the Commission began an investigation into their activities.

Any Manitoba resident that has answered the ad or is participating in the plan are being encouraged to contact the Manitoba Securities Commission at 945-2548 or toll-free at1-800-655-5244 and ask to speak to an investigator.