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Sun Life’s 2008 Volunteer of the Year award was given to Robert Tuer, advisor with the Sarnia Financial Centre. In recognition of Tuer’s volunteer work, Sun Life will donate $10,000 to his charity of choice: Scouts Canada’s St. Bartholomew’s Cub Pack.

Last year, Robert spent over 600 hours volunteering at Scouts Canada, organizing and running meetings, as well as coordinating activities for the children age 8 to 10 years old.

This summer, through Scouts Canada he will travel to Madagascar with 20 volunteers to build wells and cyclone shelter in the region.

In addition to Scouts Canada, Rob dedicated almost 500 hours to the Sarnia Lions Football Association and Northern High School Football, showing kids how to play the game, be good sports, and contribute to their communities.

“At Sun Life Financial, we encourage our employees and advisors to volunteer their time, energy, and skills with organizations that can benefit from their personal passion and interests,” said Dean Connor, president, Sun Life Financial Canada. “We believe it’s important to reward and recognize these contributions, because we know they’re making a difference in Canadian communities every day.”

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Small business gets new online tool

Manulife Financial is launching a website that will assist advisors in identifying and providing comprehensive business and personal financial solutions to their Canadian small business clients.

The Manulife site, The Small Business Solutions Centre, will provide assistance in areas including group and individual insurance, wealth management, banking and group retirement solutions. It will provide advisors with one-stop access to products and information tailored to meet the financial needs of small business owners.

“Manulife’s product breadth and strong advisor relationships have given us a solid reputation in the small business market” said Rick Brunet, executive vice-president, group products, Manulife Financial. “The Small Business Solutions Centre lets us build on those strengths and expand our focus beyond products to total client solutions. It’s an easy way to let us help our advisors offer comprehensive advice that covers business and personal financial needs, from tax and estate issues to cost-effective ways to help them attract and retain the best employees.”

Manulife’s Small Business Solutions Centre can be found at www.winwithsmallbiz.ca.

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Compliance body names new executive director

Sandra Kegie has been appointed the executive director of the Association of Canadian Compliance Professionals.

In this position she will provide leadership, management and oversight over the business activities of the ACCP, as well as provide expertise, guidance and represent the ACCP in all dealings with the regulators and the media on issues that impact the ACCP’s constituency.

Currently, Sandra is working as a compliance consultant with her firm Kegie Consulting. In addition she holds the position of executive director of the Federation of Mutual Fund Dealers.

For information about the ACCP go to www.complianceprofessionals.ca.

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Parents dipping into children’s savings

During these challenging economic times, some American families have not only reduced their contributions to children’s savings, but some have begun to use children’s savings account to pay for household expenses.

One-in-three parents have scaled back contributions into children’s savings and one-in-five parents have taken money from their children’s savings to pay bills and debt, according to ING survey.

“It’s clear that parents are struggling with their expenses during these difficult times, but tapping money put aside for their kids will only exacerbate a family’s problems when it comes time to pay for college,” said Arkadi Kuhlmann, president of ING DIRECT USA.

The survey also revealed that 27% of parents with children under age 18 do not have savings for children and the number increases to 33% for parents 35 to 45 with children closer to starting college.

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A good month for hedge funds

Questions about the future of hedge funds may have been put to rest after May saw the industry experience its largest single-month gain since 2000.

According to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research, the firm’s Fund Weighted Composite Index rose more than 5.2% during the month, and is up more than 9% year-to-date.

“After historical lows in 2008, risk appetite has quickly returned over the last eight weeks, suggesting that hedge fund investors are again looking past month-to-month volatility and focusing on the longer-term performance merits of the industry,” says Kenneth Heinz, president of HFR. “Following a period of consolidation, we expect industry growth to resume in the coming quarters, with an emphasis on transparent investment by institutional investors.”

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National Bank reduces money market fund fees

In response to unprecedented lows in short-term interest rates, National Bank Securities has cut the management fees and operating cost of its money market funds.

“Keeping in mind that our objective is to provide investors with the best possible return, we felt it was imperative to implement reductions to the management fees and trailing commissions on our money-market funds,” said Charles Guay, president and CEO of National Bank Securities.

Beginning June 15, the management fees of the bank’s domestic money market fund and U.S. money market fund will be reduced from 0.90% to 0.75% and from 1.00% to 0.75%, respectively.

In addition to this cut, National Bank will partially and temporarily waive management fees and operating cost, as well as the trailer fees, if necessary, on the following short term assets: the National Bank Corporate Cash Management, the National Bank Treasury Management Fund and the National Bank Strategic Yield Class.

(06/08/09)