Briefly:

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Sun Life Financial has launched a new lifestyle Web site called Today’s Economy, offering resources — not products — for people looking to get help with the everyday issues of living through this recession. The site includes a blog and a variety of links that provide educational information and advice.

“We know this is a confusing and stressful time for people, but there are many steps you can take to stay on track to reach your long-term financial goals even when dealing with the unexpected, such as losing your job,” said Dean Connor, president of Sun Life Financial Canada. “Our mission is to help Canadians achieve lifetime financial security, so we created the Today’s Economy Web site to provide people with the information and guidance they need to take care of themselves and their families.”

To access the site, visit www.sunlife.ca/todayseconomy.

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Investment dealers launch fixed-income data solution

Eight of Canada’s primary dealers and CanDeal are pleased to announce the formation of CANMarket Data (www.canmarketdata.com), a new source for fixed income data.

The objective of the initiative is to provide complete, independent and accurate dataset for Canadian bond and money market securities.

CANMarket Data’s blend of customer-owned securities with brokerage-owned securities transparency solution will include bid and offer prices that reflect market conditions.

In addition to a variety of intra-day and end of day valuation products, the CANMarket database has accumulated millions of historical tick-by-tick data points that can provide subscribers with historical reference data.

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Caisse, Quebec launch venture fund

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, has partnered with the Quebec government to launch a new venture-capital fund.

The Teralys Capital Fund is a joint initiative of the Caisse and the Solidarity Fund QFL. Each fund will contribute $250 million. The new venture-capital fund could be worth $825 million.

“The Quebec government is contributing $200 million through Investissement Québec and the fund will also solicit other institutional and private investors to raise an additional $125 million, for a total objective of $825 million,” a representative from the Caisse said.

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Counsel appoints PanAgora, revises fund risk category

Counsel Wealth Management has appointed PanAgora Asset Management Inc. as the global tactical asset allocation specialist for Counsel World Managed Portfolio. PanAgora will replace Credit Suisse Asset Management LLC on this account.

Also, Counsel has revised the risk-category rating for the Counsel Fixed Income fund from low to moderate, to low. “The revision reflects reduced volatility in Counsel Fixed Income as the mandate’s permitted exposure to equity-related investments has decreased,” says Sam Febbraro, Counsel’s president and CEO.

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HSBC launches new mortgage to reward savers

HSBC Bank of Canada has launched a new product called Smart Savers Mortgage. It will enable homeowners to link their savings accounts to their mortgage, and use the balances in these accounts to “offset” or lower the mortgage interest rate.

Although the monthly mortgage payment stays the same, this new method will allow more of each monthly mortgage payment to be applied directly to paying down the mortgage principal. HSBC has seen success with this type of mortgage in the U.K. and in Hong Kong.

“In times of economic uncertainty, many homeowners have traditionally looked for ways to pay down their mortgage more quickly but have held off because of the competing instinct to hold on to strong cash reserves as a fund for emergencies or other future uses,” says Linda Seymour, senior vice-president, personal financial services, with HSBC Bank Canada. “This new deposit-linked HSBC Smart Savers Mortgage will allow them to do both.”

Also, since mortgage interest rates are usually higher than interest rates offered for savings accounts, Smart Savers Mortgage users will be generating an interest premium over what they would receive on their regular savings.

(04/28/09)