Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week:
FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
‘There is no going back’: Federal review panel calls on Canada to endorse open banking: Ottawa wants to create a new strategy to strengthen data security as it inches closer to making rules to govern open banking, a concept that allows consumers to share their banking records and get better financial services in return. Story (James Bradshaw and Bill Curry)
Rob Carrick grades Canada’s online brokerages for 2020: Online brokers are prevented by regulators from offering advice, but the best firms have figured out a way to provide tools that let investors help themselves. Unless you’ve tried these tools, you may not realize how much they can help build confidence that you’re doing the right things. Story
ETF-provider Evolve Funds shuts down gender-diversity fund due to lack of investor interest: Canadian asset manager Evolve Funds Group Inc. is shuttering three of its niche investment funds, including a pioneering gender-diversity exchange-traded fund that failed to draw investor interest. Story (Clare O’Hara)
Maple Rock Capital Partners seeks meeting to oust Optiva directors: It may look like a simple squabble over board seats between two investors in a small Canadian public company. But the battle erupting at Optiva Inc. pits a former Team Canada hockey player against a quiet Texas billionaire accused of being a model for sexist “bro culture” in the tech industry. Story (David Milstead)
Ontario’s financial regulator begins process to hand back control of PACE credit union to members: Ontario’s financial regulator is preparing to hand control of PACE Savings and Credit Union back to its members after holding a vote Monday to elect a new board of directors. Story (James Bradshaw)
Alternative mortgage lending jumped mid-year in 2019: Alternative mortgage lending jumped in the spring of last year, according to new data from Statistics Canada, as the country’s housing market started to rebound after a slowdown caused by stricter mortgage rules and rising interest rates. Story (Rachelle Younglai)
Quebec names Charles Émond new CEO of Caisse de dépôt: The Quebec government has named former Bank of Nova Scotia investment banker Charles Émond as chief executive of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a bet that promoting a recently-arrived insider to the top job will ensure strategic continuity while injecting a fresh perspective into the global pension giant. Story (Nicolas Van Praet and James Bradshaw)
CIBC plans layoffs amid cost-cutting drive, CEO Dodig says in internal memo: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is planning layoffs in the coming months as it kicks off a new wave of cost-cutting in an effort to catch up to competitors on a key measure of efficiency. Story (James Bradshaw)
Google executive joins Toronto’s Radical Ventures to help fund Canadian AI startups: Google’s chief Canadian spokesman is leaving to become a partner with Radical Ventures, a Toronto venture-capital firm that has emerged as a leading backer of domestic artificial intelligence startups. Story (Sean Silcoff)
DEALS NEWS: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, IPOs and FINANCINGS
Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll leads group buying stake in Aston Martin: A consortium that includes Canadian billionaires Lawrence Stroll and André Desmarais is buying a major stake in struggling British car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. whose best customer is James Bond. The group is investing £182-million, or $318-million, as part of a £500-million financing for the car maker, which has been beset by plummeting sales. Story (Paul Waldie)
Kirkland Lake wins shareholder backing for Detour takeover: Shareholders at both Detour Gold Corp. and Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. voted decisively in favour of Kirkland’s $4.9-billion acquisition of Detour on Tuesday, in a deal that sees the world’s most profitable large gold mining company buy a struggling single-asset producer smack in the middle of a turnaround. Story (Niall McGee)
Telus leads $120-million investment in Ontario urban-tech startup Miovision: Telus Corp.'s venture arm is leading a $120-million investment in urban-tech company Miovision Technologies Inc. to help it deploy its traffic-signal-management platform more quickly worldwide. Story (Josh O’Kane)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
More than 60 per cent of companies in Canada have boards composed entirely of men: Women held fewer than one-fifth of director seats at corporate boards in 2017, while more than 60 per cent of boards were composed entirely of men, a new Statistics Canada study shows. Story (Matt Lundy)
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