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(September 26, 2007) The head of the Canadian Bankers Association challenged Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to take immediate action in establishing a single securities regulator on Wednesday.

“We’ve had enough panels,” stated Nancy Hughes Anthony, chief executive officer for the CBA during an Economic Club of Toronto speech to Bay Street’s elite. “We’ve had a ton of reports and a lot of discussions…. We need to stop the conversation at this point and make a decision for the good of the country.”

As the only industrialized country without a single regulator, Canada is at a “competitive disadvantage,” Hughes Anthony said.

“At the moment, there is not an awareness of the need to act at the national level. [The provinces] are still saying, ‘The passport system is fine.’ The fact is the passport system does not, in any way, remove the problem, and the current problem is the complexity of the system, the overlapping, the cost of having to deal with 13 jurisdictions.”

Hughes Anthony also called on the government to make Canada the most competitive country by decreasing taxes — particularly through the elimination of capital tax and for a reduction of personal tax, especially for the lowest income tax bracket.

She said, “We all know that global competition reaches into every community in Canada.” She argued that by concentrating on “leav[ing] more money in the taxpayers’ pockets…[Canada is] ensuring that we actually have a tax advantage over other countries, which we certainly don’t have at the moment.”

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Bank of Canada to carefully monitor currency changes

(September 26, 2007) The Bank of Canada will watch currency changes — and the reasons behind them — as it moves into setting its monetary policy over the next three weeks, said BoC governor David Dodge.

“Going forward, we at the bank will have to carefully assess not just the amount the currency has risen but the reasons behind that as we set monetary policy,” Dodge told a packed room after his speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade on Tuesday.

In his speech, Dodge attempted to allay fears that the Canadian economy will suffer by stating that “over time, market forces can be expected to work this out.”

Dodge called upon all involved, including investors, to proactively become educated on products rather than relying on the word of credit-rating agencies. “Uncertainty is contagious and this summer it struck even markets that had nothing to do with sub-prime.”

As of today, the U.S. dollar has fallen against 13 of the 16 most active currencies this quarter, by 4.3% against the euro and 6.8% against the yen. It dropped to a 27-year low against the Norwegian krone this week.

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Older couples not talking enough about retirement: Scotiabank

(September 26, 2007) Communication is always an issue with couples, but not talking about retirement could have a serious impact on their future.

A new retirement study conducted for Scotiabank by TNS Canadian Facts says many couples 50 and older don’t agree with each other on things like finances and lifestyles. “This lack of consensus comes from too little conversation,” says the bank in a release.

“It is crucial that couples have honest and in-depth discussions about their life after retirement,” says Bev Moir, senior investment executive at ScotiaMcLeod. “While an in-depth financial plan is vital to a successful retirement, a plan will not be complete until couples have a closer personal vision and agree on their retirement lifestyle goals.”

Sure to be troubling news to many advisors is that less than a quarter of those surveyed said they’ve had an in-depth discussion with their spouse or partner about retirement. A little more than half have a “rough idea” of how the other feels, while 23% haven’t talked about retirement at all, or as much as they should.

“We have seen many retirement plans hit a road bump almost immediately out of the gate because the shared vision that the couples thought they had wasn’t as shared as it could be,” says Barry LaValley, a retirement life goal planning expert. “Part of the problem is that couples don’t often talk about the change in the relationship dynamic and how their day-to-day life will change in retirement.”

The study found 60% of respondents couldn’t agree on whether or not they’re looking forward to retirement.

Moir says by the time people hit 50, retirement plans should already be laid. “Leaving important matters such as retirement planning on the back burner will lead to inevitable problems and a lot of surprises when a couple begins the transition to retirement,” she says.

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HSBC launches new climate change index

(September 26, 2007) HSBC has revealed that it’s launching the new Global Climate Change Benchmark Index and four investable global climate change sub-indexes.

The new index has been designed to track the market performance of certain companies that are best positioned to profit from the “challenges presented by climate change,” says the bank in a release.

According to HSBC, the benchmark’s performance has been tracked back three years and has outperformed the MSCI World Index by about 70%.

The four investable indexes — the Climate Change Index; the Energy Efficiency & Energy Management Index; the Water, Waste & Pollution Control Index; and the Low Carbon Energy Production Index — can be used to create portfolios for things such as long-only funds, hedge funds, exchange traded funds, discretionary funds and structured products.

“What makes this different and exciting is the index structure, which captures a highly diverse number of investment themes with very attractive risk return characteristics,” says Joaquim de Lima, the global head of Quant Research for Equities. “The construction and stock selection of the indices is based purely on quantitative criteria such as value generation and liquidity and these factors will be regularly reviewed.”

Nick Robins, head of HSBC’s Climate Change Centre of Excellence, will be an advisor on the Global Climate Change Benchmark Index. He says that “climate change is set to be one of the defining investment opportunities in the years ahead. This index series captures both the imperative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the need to adapt to the physical impact of climate change.”

(09/26/07)