The Globe and Mail ran a story today called “A new brand of financial adviser” that featured a Canadian Fintech startup, Tridus Wealth Management, and its plans to offer a more cost-effective solution to investors through its use of technology. Tridus is foregoing office space and traditional overhead expenses, emphasizing digital communication over paper and relying […]
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A February MFDA review of the industry’s readiness for POS3 and CRM2 provided mixed results – while some dealers are ahead of the curve, the review “found incidents of both outright non-compliance and examples of half-hearted compliance”. With POS3 only 90 days away and the last CRM2 reforms only 135 days away, the clock is […]
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There’s nothing like a weakening stock market to turn everyone’s attention to the cost of their investments. And as it should be. In a strong market I may be willing to give up 2-3% if I can make an 8-10% return overall, but if the markets turn south and I’m fighting for every bit of […]
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The Ontario government quietly amended the Ontario Securities Act a few weeks ago, paving the way for even greater disclosure and compliance measures by dealers and their advisors. In fact, as Blakes highlights in their June 29, 2015 bulletin the new record-keeping obligation will place even more onus on all dealers, advisors and other market […]
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A recent article in the Toronto Star mentions how most Canadian investors believe their only cost of investing in mutual funds is the management expense ratio (MER), which goes to the asset manager. This article shines a bright light on the costs of investing and the need for investment advisors to illustrate the value of the […]
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The long simmering debate over the high cost of Canadian mutual funds may soon come to a head, bringing more dramatic change to an already fast-evolving wealth management industry. The Ontario Securities Commission, acting on behalf of the Canadian Securities Administrators commissioned The Brondesbury Group to review existing research on mutual funds compensation and yesterday they […]
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The ‘exchange of value’ (e.g. relationship drivers between buyer and seller) in the investment industry used to be straightforward: financial advisors were the de facto experts providing investment advice and ideally, positive returns, in exchange for payment from the investor in the form of fees (explicit or otherwise). This generally led to relatively stable, unquestioned […]
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There’s a lot written these days around the challenges in effectively reaching Millennials (those born roughly between the early 1980s and early 2000s). Having grown up in a technologically-enabled world with an unprecedented amount of information and options at their fingertips (literally, it just takes a swipe), they have a distinct set of experiences and […]
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The CSA letter published on January 28, 2015 said that CRM2 amendments scheduled to come in to force on July 15, 2015 have been extended to December 31, 2015 in response to an IIAC letter managing director Barbara Amsden sent to the CSA on December 20, 2014. This gives dealers an additional 6 months to […]
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This article points out 6 regulatory opportunities – strategies that help wealth managers turn regulation into customer upside. Our customers are implementing some of these ideas ahead of POS Stage 3 – and taking advantage of opportunities that include e-migration, improved customer experience and improved communications. Every industry player must comply so why not turn a […]
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