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(March 28, 2008) Gail Cook-Bennett is positioned to become the first female chair of Canada’s largest insurance company, according to Manulife Financial’s proxy circular released on Friday.

The company’s current chair, Arthur Sawchuk, 72, has reached the mandatory retirement age. He has requested that, subject to his re-election at the 2008 Annual Meeting, he continue as the chair of the board and as a director until his successor is appointed, which is expected to occur later in 2008.

The proxy circular says it is anticipated that Cook-Bennett, who was appointed vice-chair of the board on December 6, 2007, will be appointed chair after her existing chair commitments at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board end later in 2008.

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Risk expert gets seat on BMO’s board

(March 28, 2008) Bank of Montreal today announced the appointment of Don M. Wilson III to its board of directors. He is the former risk officer at JPMorgan Chase & Company.

Wilson retired from JPMorgan in 2006 as chief risk officer with responsibility for credit, equity, market and operational risk globally. He was also a member of JPMorgan’s executive committee and operating committee.

“We are pleased to welcome Don to the board of directors,” says David Galloway, chair of the board, Bank of Montreal. “He is a superbly qualified individual who brings a broad competence in financial markets and all aspects of risk management. I am confident that Don’s wealth of experience in financial institutions globally will serve the bank well.”

Prior to his appointment as chief risk officer at JPMorgan in 2003, Wilson was co-head of JPMorgan’s credit and rates division, with responsibility globally for derivatives, syndicated loans, bonds, structured products, emerging markets, government securities and foreign exchange.

Wilson, a native of Ravenna, Ohio, is also currently serving as the vice-chairman of the Harvard College Fund; an overseer at Tuck School and chairman of Tuck Annual Giving; a director of Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc.; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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CRA launches e-service for quick personal tax info

(March 28, 2008) Quick Access for individuals, a new e-service that provides basic tax information for Canadians, has been launched by the Canada Revenue Agency. The service will give taxpayers secure access to basic personal tax and benefit account information without their having to telephone the CRA.

With Quick Access, the CRA says, Canadians can access information about their RRSP deduction limit as well as get status updates on their tax returns, Canada Child Tax Benefit payments, GST/HST credit payments and Universal Child Care Benefit payments.

To log on, users will need to provide their social insurance number, date of birth and the amount entered on line 150 (“Total income”) of their 2006 or 2007 income tax return.

The CRA stresses that the service is completely secure and uses sophisticated security technology and procedures to protect both confidential taxpayer information and the website.

Nevertheless, Canadians concerned about the ready availability of their tax information will be able to choose to completely block online access to their account information by contacting the CRA and requesting that no online access to their account be permitted. They can choose to enable online access again at any time.

(03/28/08)