Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week:
FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
CDIC beefs up marketing about banking stability as false information on social media could cause panic: Many of the million-plus Canadians who watched the first round of the National Football League playoffs this month likely saw a commercial for a financial group they had only vaguely ever heard of: CDIC. Story (Tim Kiladze)
Maureen Jensen to resign from OSC amid tensions with Ford government: Ontario Securities Commission chair and CEO Maureen Jensen is resigning almost a year before her term expires amid tensions with the Progressive Conservative government. Story (Greg McArthur, David Milstead and Christine Dobby)
Subsidiary of Som Seif’s Purpose Financial buying Wealthsimple’s financial-adviser business: Som Seif’s Purpose Financial LP is making a major move into the financial-adviser business by scooping up Wealthsimple for Advisors. Story (Clare O’Hara)
Wealthsimple unveils new chequing account partnership with two major Canadian banks: Online financial services provider Wealthsimple Inc. has partnered with two major Canadian banks as it prepares to launch the first of three new banking products under development – a chequing account service to be called Wealthsimple Cash. Story (Clare O’Hara)
Hey OSC: Can you spare $100-million?: Do most Ontarians know that there is more than $100-million of public money sitting in a bank account at the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) just waiting to be spent on health care, education or legal aid? Unfortunately, they may not as the OSC is badly behind on its statutory corporate-governance obligations (ironically for our capital markets regulator). It is also not clear what Queen’s Park plans to do about it. Story (Opinion)
Scotiabank foresees growth in Latin American operations despite economic headwinds: Bank of Nova Scotia predicts that its Latin American operations can continue to churn out rising profits in the coming years, as the bank works to assuage concerns about the region’s civil unrest and slower economic growth. Story (James Bradshaw)
BDO pays $3.5-million fine over audit of fraudulent mutual funds: BDO Canada LLP has agreed to pay a $3.5-million fine as part of a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission, admitting it did not properly audit two mutual funds later found by the regulator to be fraudulent. Story (Greg McArthur)
DEALS NEWS: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, IPOs and FINANCINGS
Dutils look to protect Quebec jobs with deal for Canam assets: Quebec’s prominent Dutil family is leading a group to buy back control of Canam Group’s Canadian assets in a move designed to protect the structural steel maker’s local factories from possible closing and job losses in a recession. Story (Nicolas Van Praet)
Starlight eyes U.S. fund IPO with explicit goal: ‘Significant’ rent hikes on rental properties: Canada’s Starlight Investments hopes to raise up to US$147-million through an initial public offering for a new fund, with plans to funnel money from Canadian investors into U.S. apartment properties – and then substantially raise rents. Story (Tim Kiladze)
Oxford Properties, AIMCo team up for massive Mississauga development project: Two Canadian pension funds are planning to build 37 new buildings west of Toronto, in what they say is the biggest development project in Canada’s history, as the companies race to capitalize on the housing shortage and low office vacancy rates in the country’s most populated region. Story (Rachelle Younglai)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Rob Carrick’s 2020 ETF Buyer’s Guide: Best Canadian equity funds: Exchange-traded funds tracking the Canadian stock market routinely clocked in with gains around 20 per cent. Can it really matter which particular ETF you buy if they perform so uniformly well in a given year? The answer is an emphatic yes. Story
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