Briefly:

Ninety-eight per cent of the 1,038 pooled funds in the Morningstar Canada database posted gains in the second quarter (Q2) of this year. For three consecutive months, all 41 of the Morningstar Canada Pooled Fund Indexes, which measure the asset-weighted average return of all funds within a category, experienced a strong rally. Twenty-five of the […]

By Staff | July 27, 2009 | Last updated on July 27, 2009
3 min read

“Investors are paying very close attention to interest rates and currencies amid all the debate about what central banks may do in the year ahead,” says Bill Bamber, managing director, global derivatives, withCIBC World Markets Inc. “Our indices allow all investors to invest in these asset classes in ways that would otherwise be difficult to manage or impossible to do outside of a futures account.”

CIBC’s proprietary Interest Rate and Currency indexes are a series of independent standalone indexes,, each of which is linked to the performance of a specific futures contract that is listed and traded on major exchanges, namely the CBOT, CME, MSE and Eurex.

The new indices are the latest in a series of proprietary financial indexes that CIBC has created. An equities index is expected to follow later this year.

• • •

Clairvest appoints new CFO

Daniel Cheng has assumed the role of chief financial officer (CFO) at Clairvest Group Inc.

“Daniel’s demonstrated performance within Clairvest, combined with his auditing experience and strong analytical skills, makes it clear that he will be a strong CFO,” says Ken Rotman, co-CEO and managing director of Clairvest Group Inc.

Cheng joined Clairvest in 2005 and was promoted to vice-president of finance in 2007. Prior to joining Clairvest, he held various positions at Deloitte & Touche, where he gained experience dealing with a wide variety of financial and tax issues.

(07/27/09)

Advisor.ca staff

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.

Previous Brieflies this week: | MON | TUE | WED | THU |

Ninety-eight per cent of the 1,038 pooled funds in the Morningstar Canada database posted gains in the second quarter (Q2) of this year.

For three consecutive months, all 41 of the Morningstar Canada Pooled Fund Indexes, which measure the asset-weighted average return of all funds within a category, experienced a strong rally. Twenty-five of the indexes returned more than 10%, and eight of them gained 20% or more.

The best-performing fund index was the one that tracks the Canadian Focused Small/Mid Cap Equity category, which gained 23.6%.

Other domestic equity categories with strong returns include Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity pooled fund index (up 21.4%), Canadian Equity (up 20%), Canadian Dividend & Income Equity (up 9.6%), Canadian Focused Equity (up 8.5%) and Canadian Income Trust Equity (up 17.7%). All of these indexes also obtained most of their gains in the first two months of the quarter while posting more muted returns in June.

In the second quarter, among the 254 individual funds belonging to these six domestic equity categories, only four did not post double-digit returns. The best performer was Bissett Small Cap (up 37.7%), followed by a clone of the same fund sponsored by Desjardins Financial Security, which was up 37.6%, and Manulife Canadian Small Cap Equity, which gained 29.7%. Only one domestic equity fund had a negative return — Montrusco Bolton Quantitative Canadian Equity was down 2.7% for the quarter.

Other pooled fund categories with index returns in the top five were Real Estate Equity (23.2%), Emerging Markets Equity (22.8%) and Asia Pacific Equity (22.4%).

The three largest foreign equity categories are the International Equity pooled fund index (up 15.5%), the Global Equity (up 11.6%) and U.S. Equity (up 7.2%).

The best-performing individual foreign fund was Goodman Far East Equity Value, up 36.7%.

• • •

Coventree acknowledges enforcement notices from OSC

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued enforcement notices to Coventree and four of its former and current officers.

The company and its officers are being investigated for potential disclosure violations with their sale of asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP).

As part of this investigation, staffers of the OSC are looking into Coventree’s participation in the Canadian ABCP market and potential disclosure issues in the prospectus relating to Coventree’s initial [ABCP] public offering, which was completed in November 2006. In addition, the OSC is investigating the company’s disclosure of its U.S. sub-prime exposure to customers and dealers during 2007, as well as its compliance with its continuous disclosure obligations prior to Aug. 13, 2007.

Company officers Dean Tai, Geoff Cornish, David Allan and Bridget Child have all received enforcement notices. The notices identify disclosure issues that are the subject of the investigation and indicate that the OSC is contemplating commencing proceedings in relation to those issues.

• • •

CIBC creates tradable indexes

CIBC’s wholesale banking business has launched a set of tradable indexes that will allow investors to apply interest rate and investment tools to their portfolios without the administrative burden of managing future contracts.

“Investors are paying very close attention to interest rates and currencies amid all the debate about what central banks may do in the year ahead,” says Bill Bamber, managing director, global derivatives, withCIBC World Markets Inc. “Our indices allow all investors to invest in these asset classes in ways that would otherwise be difficult to manage or impossible to do outside of a futures account.”

CIBC’s proprietary Interest Rate and Currency indexes are a series of independent standalone indexes,, each of which is linked to the performance of a specific futures contract that is listed and traded on major exchanges, namely the CBOT, CME, MSE and Eurex.

The new indices are the latest in a series of proprietary financial indexes that CIBC has created. An equities index is expected to follow later this year.

• • •

Clairvest appoints new CFO

Daniel Cheng has assumed the role of chief financial officer (CFO) at Clairvest Group Inc.

“Daniel’s demonstrated performance within Clairvest, combined with his auditing experience and strong analytical skills, makes it clear that he will be a strong CFO,” says Ken Rotman, co-CEO and managing director of Clairvest Group Inc.

Cheng joined Clairvest in 2005 and was promoted to vice-president of finance in 2007. Prior to joining Clairvest, he held various positions at Deloitte & Touche, where he gained experience dealing with a wide variety of financial and tax issues.

(07/27/09)

Previous Brieflies this week: | MON | TUE | WED | THU |

Ninety-eight per cent of the 1,038 pooled funds in the Morningstar Canada database posted gains in the second quarter (Q2) of this year.

For three consecutive months, all 41 of the Morningstar Canada Pooled Fund Indexes, which measure the asset-weighted average return of all funds within a category, experienced a strong rally. Twenty-five of the indexes returned more than 10%, and eight of them gained 20% or more.

The best-performing fund index was the one that tracks the Canadian Focused Small/Mid Cap Equity category, which gained 23.6%.

Other domestic equity categories with strong returns include Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity pooled fund index (up 21.4%), Canadian Equity (up 20%), Canadian Dividend & Income Equity (up 9.6%), Canadian Focused Equity (up 8.5%) and Canadian Income Trust Equity (up 17.7%). All of these indexes also obtained most of their gains in the first two months of the quarter while posting more muted returns in June.

In the second quarter, among the 254 individual funds belonging to these six domestic equity categories, only four did not post double-digit returns. The best performer was Bissett Small Cap (up 37.7%), followed by a clone of the same fund sponsored by Desjardins Financial Security, which was up 37.6%, and Manulife Canadian Small Cap Equity, which gained 29.7%. Only one domestic equity fund had a negative return — Montrusco Bolton Quantitative Canadian Equity was down 2.7% for the quarter.

Other pooled fund categories with index returns in the top five were Real Estate Equity (23.2%), Emerging Markets Equity (22.8%) and Asia Pacific Equity (22.4%).

The three largest foreign equity categories are the International Equity pooled fund index (up 15.5%), the Global Equity (up 11.6%) and U.S. Equity (up 7.2%).

The best-performing individual foreign fund was Goodman Far East Equity Value, up 36.7%.

• • •

Coventree acknowledges enforcement notices from OSC

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued enforcement notices to Coventree and four of its former and current officers.

The company and its officers are being investigated for potential disclosure violations with their sale of asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP).

As part of this investigation, staffers of the OSC are looking into Coventree’s participation in the Canadian ABCP market and potential disclosure issues in the prospectus relating to Coventree’s initial [ABCP] public offering, which was completed in November 2006. In addition, the OSC is investigating the company’s disclosure of its U.S. sub-prime exposure to customers and dealers during 2007, as well as its compliance with its continuous disclosure obligations prior to Aug. 13, 2007.

Company officers Dean Tai, Geoff Cornish, David Allan and Bridget Child have all received enforcement notices. The notices identify disclosure issues that are the subject of the investigation and indicate that the OSC is contemplating commencing proceedings in relation to those issues.

• • •

CIBC creates tradable indexes

CIBC’s wholesale banking business has launched a set of tradable indexes that will allow investors to apply interest rate and investment tools to their portfolios without the administrative burden of managing future contracts.

“Investors are paying very close attention to interest rates and currencies amid all the debate about what central banks may do in the year ahead,” says Bill Bamber, managing director, global derivatives, withCIBC World Markets Inc. “Our indices allow all investors to invest in these asset classes in ways that would otherwise be difficult to manage or impossible to do outside of a futures account.”

CIBC’s proprietary Interest Rate and Currency indexes are a series of independent standalone indexes,, each of which is linked to the performance of a specific futures contract that is listed and traded on major exchanges, namely the CBOT, CME, MSE and Eurex.

The new indices are the latest in a series of proprietary financial indexes that CIBC has created. An equities index is expected to follow later this year.

• • •

Clairvest appoints new CFO

Daniel Cheng has assumed the role of chief financial officer (CFO) at Clairvest Group Inc.

“Daniel’s demonstrated performance within Clairvest, combined with his auditing experience and strong analytical skills, makes it clear that he will be a strong CFO,” says Ken Rotman, co-CEO and managing director of Clairvest Group Inc.

Cheng joined Clairvest in 2005 and was promoted to vice-president of finance in 2007. Prior to joining Clairvest, he held various positions at Deloitte & Touche, where he gained experience dealing with a wide variety of financial and tax issues.

(07/27/09)