Diane Urquhart is an independent financial analyst

Financial analyst

A financial analyst, securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, or investment analyst is a person who performs financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core part of the job.-Job:...

 and former senior securities industry executive. She is a major critic of the financial system in Canada. She appeared before the Parliamentary finance committee’s hearings into Canada’s frozen non-bank asset-backed commercial paper as one of six witnesses to address the committee where she appeared on behalf of a group of retail customers of non-bank ABCP.

Diane Urquhart says that asset-backed commercial paper is responsible for a loss of $7–$13 billion in Canada held primarily by government, corporation pension funds and treasuries. Implicated are credit rating agency Dominion Bond Rating Services (DBRS), the Federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), and the Ontario Securities Commission

Ontario Securities Commission

The Ontario Securities Commission is a regulatory agency which administers and enforces securities legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario...

. Ms Urquhart also speaks out against some powerful institutions and people, such as Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....

, JP Morgan and Purdy Crawford

Purdy Crawford

Purdy Crawford, is a Canadian lawyer and businessman.Purdy Crawford, the "dean emeritus of Canada's corporate bar" is a native of Five Islands, Nova Scotia, and a graduate of Mount Allison University, Dalhousie Law School and Harvard Law School...

.
Urquhart has been helping the Nortel

Nortel

Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...

's laid off  employees, pensioner

Pensioner

In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...

s, and the disabled in their battle to try and collect their benefits from the bankrupt company. She also testified in 2010 before a parliamentary committee that $100 million is missing from the Nortel Health and Welfare Trust and that a $37 million loan to Nortel has not been paid back.

Early career

Diane Urquhart served on the board of directors of Technovision Systems Inc. in the early 2000's.

External links

• http://www.youtube.com/user/dianeurquhart
• http://ismymoneysafe.org/ SCU Webinar (May 26, 2009)