Thirty years ago currency management was little more than the introduction of a free-floating exchange rate. Now currency management is the coup d’état of global portfolio construction — the latest risk management tool of many financial analysts. “Currency management is about mitigating risk, not about generating returns,” explained Zainul Ali, CFA, senior asset consultant at […]
Industry experts are questioning whether fair value accounting for current and future assets is really providing the transparency and accessibility it originally promised. In a workshop conducted by Standard & Poor’s in Toronto on Thursday, bank officials, accountants, analysts, regulator spokespeople and ratings specialists squared off on whether or not the increased relevance offered by […]
Canada will lose a competitive edge if women continue to be a significant minority in corporate boardrooms, suggests a recent report released today by Catalyst, a leading non-profit research organization. In fact, the study suggests that the persistent under-representation of women on corporate boards and the extremely slow pace of change may have disturbing implications […]
(June 2008) Second marriages, an inheritance from your grandmother, or sizeable retirement assets are a few of the many reasons why more and more Canadians are signing on the prenuptial dotted line. Prenuptial arrangements, while not yet the rage, are becoming more and more commonplace, explains Jim Stoffman, a Winnipeg-based lawyer with 34 years of […]
Canada can be described as a vast and diverse nation with many peaks and valleys. According to Peter Wouters, the same can be said regarding the nation’s tax and estate planning legislation. At the Independent Financial Brokers’ Spring Summit, Wouters, director of tax and estate planning at Empire Life, suggested that agents be prepared for […]
The future is filled with documentation, according to the Mutual Fund Dealers Association. In a presentation at the Independent Financial Brokers’ Spring Summit, Ken Woodard and Ian Strulovitch confirmed that the MFDA would continue to push the practice of documentation. The mention of high-profile cases, such as Portus and the infamous Ian Thow under the […]
Less than a month after the release of presumably clearer, more concise critical illness definitions, the industry is providing feedback — and it’s not all positive. Since its launch about a decade ago, critical illness (CI) insurance promised Canadians a lump sum if they were stricken with a life-threatening medical problem, such as cancer or […]
Healthy skepticism toward the ethanol fad is prompting Canadian parliamentarians to take a second look at Bill C-33 — the bill that would set minimum levels of biofuels to be blended with gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Any decision could subsequently affect related commodity prices, which have soared due to biofuel demand over the past […]
Almost one million Canadian investors, associated with Social Investment Organization affiliates, are hoping that advisors across the country will be required to include values-based questions when they open a new account or review an old client file. Currently, the “know your client” (KYC) rule is fairly vague, giving few specifics about what advisors need to […]
Somewhere in the glass towers of law offices, security regulators and dealer boardrooms, legal experts, compliance officers and owner-dealers are hammering out the details of how registration reform, scheduled to take effect on March 30, 2009, will impact their businesses. Laurie Cook’s advice is simple: “Buy t-shirts and create teams.” As a partner at the […]