(September 6, 2005) Fall means back to school, the end of a long summer, and a frenzied lineup of conference offerings catering to every sector of the financial services industry. Seminars on everything from leadership advice, practice management techniques, regulatory updates and business forecasts are lined up this year for industry members looking for education […]
(September 2, 2005) To understand where energy prices might be headed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it helps to have an accurate picture of where things stand now. Independent energy industry consulting firm Purvin & Gertz released a briefing today on the impact that the natural disaster had on oil and gas production, refining […]
(September 1, 2005) Technology risks are showing up more frequently and moving more quickly than ever before. Advisors working in large corporations tend to have the benefit of a qualified IT department at their disposal to work on these things, but independent advisors or anyone responsible for their own technology have a whole host of […]
(August 31, 2005) After more than an hour of deliberations, an IDA hearing panel today accepted a settlement agreement negotiated between staff of the IDA and HSBC Securities over its role in allowing offshore clients to market time trades in mutual funds from six fund companies. From January to July 2002, HSBC earned more than […]
(August 26, 2005) Investment Funds Institute of Canada chairman, Michel Fragasso resigned his position last night after two companies he is involved in were shut down by Quebec regulators. Fragasso is chair of Fonds Evolution Inc., and vice president of Norbourg Asset Management Inc. His decision to step down comes after the Autorité des marchés […]
(August 24, 2005) There are a number of issues threatening the future of defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Financial advisors are probably already aware of the trend — between 1992 and 2003, the number of Canadian workers covered by workplace pension plans dropped from 44% to 34%. The decline in coverage has been most significant […]
(August 23, 2005) The already complex web of regulations governing advisors could get a little more onerous, and unnecessarily so, industry groups say, if an insurance review committee proceeds with plans to introduce new legislation related to disclosure of commissions and perceived conflicts of interests. The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) and Canadian Insurance […]
(August 17, 2005) Avian flu is frequently relegated to the back pages of newspapers and rarely considered an investment risk by money managers, but a new research report from BMO Nesbitt Burns, entitled An Investor’s Guide to Avian Flu, which catalogues the possible economic and societal fallout of a global pandemic, could change all that. […]
(August 16, 2005) Despite the fact the federal government of Canada is practically giving away money to parents who save for their children’s education, more than half say they have not opened a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). Even if a client’s children aren’t old enough to have them thinking about back-to-school specials, the time […]
(August 12, 2005) More Canadian households are beginning to manage their debt and finances in the same way corporations do, say RBC economists, by using lines of credit and other relatively new ways of borrowing to smooth incomes over the course of their lifetimes. This growing reliance on lines of credit and similar products is […]