Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | General Motors of Canada Ltd. wants financial help from both the federal and Ontario governments to help pay for pension and retiree healthcare costs—which the company says, are crippling its competitiveness. David Paterson, GM Canada’s vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs, […]
The large spending measures announced in Tuesday’s budget by the federal government—an estimated $64 billion over the next two years—could give a much-needed boost to domestic investment opportunities. The budget is generally getting the thumbs up from investment analysts and economists as a means to provide short-term stimulus until the global economy recovers. For investing, […]
The collapse of Lehman Brothers heralded an unprecedented focus on securities lending after the practice of short selling was blamed for accelerating the bank’s demise. Four months later, securities lending is still a hot topic as many organizations question whether or not the income generated by lending is worth the risk. To address some of […]
Last month, some of the country’s best and brightest pension and investment professionals turned out to celebrate their peers at The Benefits Canada Awards. The event was held in downtown Toronto at The Design Exchange, the former home of the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the plan sponsor category, Karen Welch, the vice-president of global compensation […]
The collapse of Lehman Brothers didn’t just take down the whole investment banking model of Wall Street; it also put the squeeze on a significant number of other investments, including principal-protected notes and hedge funds. Lehman’s PPNs, while notionally powered by various stock indexes, were actually senior unsecured obligations for a company now in bankruptcy. […]
Other World Views this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | A joint Aon Consulting/Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists survey finds that 45% of American employers now have consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), up from 37% last year. Of those companies surveyed with CDHPs, the goals for having them range from […]
Forty-year veteran Jean-Guy Desjardins brings a scientific approach to investment management. Jean-Guy Desjardins had a dream. The 64-year-old chief executive officer and board chair of Fiera Capital Inc. wanted to be the president of a holding company. “In the 1960s, the big thing was conglomerates,” he says. “[But] we all know what happened with that.” […]
Volatile markets have taken their toll on the Top 40 Money Managers of 2008. But they recognize that this crisis, too, will pass. This Top 40 Money Managers Report is looking a little off-colour, as ailing markets and the resulting roller-coaster ride of volatility have spread to the money management industry as well. As the […]
The global credit crisis has hit Wall Street hard in the past 24 hours: Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy protection, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America, and the State of New York has allowed AIG to borrow US$20 billion from its subsidiaries to fund day-to-day operations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Canadians will contribute $20 billion to tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) next year and the market will mushroom to $115 billion by 2013, says a CIBC World Markets report. “The 2008 federal budget gave birth to arguably the most dramatic change in […]