Briefly:

Scotia Capital has announced the expansion of the U.S. stock lending business within its Global Equity Finance Group, adding five members to the team.

“The addition of agency services as part of our prime brokerage offering secures a strong foothold for Scotia Capital and our Equities business,” said Patrick Burke, managing director and head of institutional equities of Scotia Capital.

The new members of the team include:

• Gary Rupert, managing director, a registered General Principal with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), will lead the team in the U.S.; • Daniel Murphy, managing director, brings over 25 years of investment industry experience; • Armeet Sandhu, managing director, with over 15 years of financial services industry experience; • Keith Peckholdt, director, who is a registered General Principal with NASD and has over 25 years experience in the capital markets; and • Eugene Picone, director, with over 25 years of securities lending experience both in the U.S. and internationally.

“This group has a successful track record of developing a solid agency franchise and we are confident these individuals will make a positive contribution to our team,” said Burke.

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DALBAR unimpressed with seg fund statements

DALBAR has released its biannual rankings evaluating the statements issued by segregated fund providers, rating none any higher than a hair’s breadth short of “good.”

Out of a possible 100 points, Sun Life ranked the highest, with a score of 59.75, just shy of the 60 points needed for DALBAR to deem the statement as good. Manulife was just one point behind, with a score of 58.72.

London Life, Standard Life and Great-West Life all placed higher than the industry benchmark of 49.74. Transamerica, Industrial Alliance, Canada Life and TD all ranked below the benchmark.

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Employers planning raises in 2010

The vast majority of Canadian employers are budgeting for salary increases for 2010, after having limited or frozen pay in response to the recession in 2009.

According to Watson Wyatt, 92.2% plan to increase their compensation budgets, compared to 79.5% in 2009. The average projected salary increase is 3% among those planning raises. Factoring in those who will maintain wage freezes, the average falls to 2.7%.

Planned raises in the not-for-profit sector remain strong, averaging 3.8%. In the for-profit sector, the average expected raise will be 2.9%.

Broken down by industry, durable manufacturing companies plan average raises of 3.1%, while non-durable manufacturers plan 2.4% raises. The services sector should see an average raise of 3.1%, while insurance is expected to see raises of 2.8%. The retail and wholesale trade sector anticipates average raises of 2.6%.

The Watson Wyatt report is based on the responses of 106 organizations in Canada.

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Fund family celebrates 35 years

Gestion FERIQUE has announced a rare achievement in the Canadian mutual fund space: four of its funds have just celebrated their 35th anniversaries.

The FERIQUE Short-Term Income, Bond, Equity and Balanced funds are now older than 4,722 other funds in Canada. All four funds rank in the top decile when compared to their categories over a 25 year time horizon.

The median age in Canada’s mutual fund universe is just 4.5 years, according to PALTrak.

“On average, more than 300 mutual funds are created and terminated every year in Canada,” says Fabienne Lacoste, executive director of Gestion FERIQUE. “Funds that perform poorly or have little success are often closed or merged after a certain amount of time, and their performance history is no longer available for comparison purposes.”

Over those 35 years, Short-Term Income Fund has earned investors a 6.8% return, the Bond Fund 8.6%, the Equity Fund 10.8% and the Balanced Fund 8.6%.

The FERIQUE fund family was founded in 1974 and is exclusively available to engineers and their families within Quebec.

(09/01/09)