Former B.C. mortgage broker barred from profession, ordered to pay $30,000

Former mortgage broker Gursher Singh Bains has been barred from returning to the profession in B.C. after the provincial regulator found false or misleading information in every application it reviewed.

Bains voluntarily terminated his registration with the B.C. Financial Services Authority on Dec. 2, 2025, and signed a consent order last month. A redacted version was published Thursday. Under the agreement, he cannot reapply for registration and must pay a $25,000 administrative penalty and $5,000 in investigation costs within three months.

The investigation began after a Civil Resolution Tribunal decision found Bains negligent in a borrowers’ application, including by failing to disclose that the property was a manufactured mobile home. The regulator found he submitted the application without contacting the borrowers to verify information received through an intermediary. The borrowers later paid $5,000 to delay closing and obtained alternative financing.

BCFSA expanded its review to eight files handled between May 2022 and April 2024. It found all eight contained misleading or false information. Five included documents deemed inauthentic and income or asset figures that were overstated, according to the consent order.

The order also cites conflicting employment and income details, an uncorrected claim that a property would be owner-occupied, and a second-mortgage application that omitted an existing first mortgage. Bains acknowledged relying on referral sources or third parties for borrower information without independently verifying it or directly contacting borrowers in each transaction.