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(January 17, 2008) Canada has the second largest share of the 6,427 investment professionals who earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2007.

At 746, Canada trails only the United States (2,610) in the number of new CFA charter holders it has. The CFA Institute, which administers the designation, says all the new charter holders have been listed in Thursday’s edition of the Globe and Mail.

After the U.S and Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong produced the greatest number of new charter holders. The CFA Institute says the new crop of grads brings the global total of CFA holders to more than 80,000. A testament to the designation’s difficulty, that number is still smaller than the number of candidates who sat for the 2007 CFA exams.

To earn the CFA designation, candidates must sequentially pass three six-hour exams that are widely considered to be among the most rigorous in the investment profession.

Nearly 60% of CFA candidates in 2007 were from outside North America.

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PH&N expands advisor-series offerings

(January 17, 2008) Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management (PH&N) has expanded its product offerings specifically designed for advisors. Series B and F units of the following funds are now available:

• PH&N Balanced Fund
• PH&N Global Equity Fund
• PH&N Community Values Balanced Fund
• PH&N Community Values Global Equity Fund
• PH&N Currency-Hedged U.S. Equity Fund
• PH&N Currency-Hedged Overseas Equity Fund
• BonaVista Canadian Equity Value Fund
• BonaVista Global Balanced Fund

Series B units will pay a trailing commission of 50 basis points on balanced, equity and dividend funds, 25 basis points on bond funds and 10 basis points on money market funds.

The minimum investment for each PH&N fund is $5,000 per fund for dealer-name accounts and $25,000 per account for client-name accounts.

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Desjardins changes fund sub-advisors, allows derivatives

(January 17, 2008) The Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, the manager of the Desjardins family of mutual funds, has made some changes to its fund family.

The Quebec-based fund company has appointed new sub-advisors to four of its funds. The Desjardins Canadian Equity Value Fund has appointed Tetrem Capital Management and LSV Asset Management as new portfolio sub-advisors. Barclays Global Investors Canada Limited has been retained to provide transitional advisory services for a term ending on or about March 7, 2008.

Desjardins Canadian Equity Fund has appointed Picton Mahoney Asset Management as portfolio sub-advisor.

The Desjardins Global Small Cap Equity Fund has appointed GlobeFlex Capital and Lazard Asset Management LLC as portfolio sub-advisors. This fund will be authorized to use derivatives for hedging and non-hedging purposes effective April 1, 2008.

Desjardins Global All Cap Equity Fund has appointed Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. as portfolio sub-advisor. This fund will also be authorized to use derivatives for hedging and non-hedging purposes and will be authorized to engage in securities lending, and to repurchase and reverse repurchase transactions effective April 1, 2008.

Also allowed to use derivatives for hedging and non-hedging purposes effective April 1, 2008, are the Desjardins Québec Balanced Fund and the Desjardins Environment Fund.

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RBC Centura renamed RBC Bank

(January 17, 2008) RBC Financial Group’s three-lettered moniker is well known in Canada to be the initials for Royal Bank of Canada, but that may not be the case in the U.S. So the company has changed the name of its primary U.S. retail banking operation, RBC Centura, to RBC Bank (USA), which could be read by some people as Royal Bank of Canada Bank (USA).

“RBC is one of the largest and most stable financial institutions in North America, and we’re proud to be part of the RBC family of companies. As we grow, it’s more important than ever to build brand awareness in the U.S. and represent the global brand, company and voice of RBC,” says Scott Custer, RBC Centura’s chairman and CEO. “For those reasons and to celebrate our growth, we’re excited to announce our name change.”

The bank will operate as RBC Centura until the official name change occurs in April. Customer accounts will not be affected as part of this change, and there is no action required by customers.

RBC Centura has been a wholly owned subsidiary of RBC since 2001. RBC has nearly 2 million clients and 12,000 employees across the U.S.

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Scotia Capital CEO departs

(January 17, 2008) Scotia Capital, the capital markets subsidiary of Scotiabank, announced that its co-CEO John Schumacher has left the investment bank after 10 years of service. Effective immediately, Schumacher will be replaced by Mike Durland, who will assume the role of co-chairman and co-CEO of Scotia Capital and head of Global Capital Markets.

Durland will work alongside Stephen McDonald, co-head of Global Corporate and Investment Banking. Both Durland and McDonald will report directly to Rick Waugh, the president and CEO of Scotiabank.

“Scotia Capital is a key growth platform for the Scotiabank Group, and its record profits of $1.1 billion in 2007 are a testament to the strength of our teams in both Global Corporate and Investment Banking and Global Capital Markets,” Waugh says. “Mike has significant capital markets experience and, together with co-chair and co-CEO Steve McDonald, will continue to position Scotia Capital as a leading corporate and investment bank and an integral part of the future growth and success of the Scotiabank Group.”

Durland joined Scotia Capital in 1993 and has a Ph.D. in finance. He has held various management positions including managing director of derivative products. Prior to this announcement, he held the position of deputy head, Global Capital Markets and head, Capital Markets Group.

(01/17/08)