Briefly:

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(April 22, 2008) Patrick Farmer, former AIM Trimark chief investment officer, has resurfaced. He is joining Edgepoint Capital Partners as its chief operating officer and chairman of the board.

Farmer is also a shareholder in Cymbria Capital Corp., along with ex-AIM Trimark colleagues Bousada, Geoff MacDonald and Robert Krembil.

EdgePoint Capital Partners is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cymbria Capital Corp.

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Sentry Select reshuffles investment department

(April 22, 2008) Sentry Select Capital Corp. announced Tuesday that David M. Schwartz has retired from his position of senior vice-president and chief operating officer.

“David had a great impact on the growth of the company over his 13 years with Sentry Select,” said John F. Driscoll, CEO and president of Sentry Select.

The company also announced that Sandy McIntyre will assume the position of chief investment officer, while maintaining the titles of senior vice-president and senior portfolio manager. McIntyre has more than 30 years of experience managing equity and fixed income investment portfolios, most recently with an emphasis on income equity mandates.

In the same announcement, Sentry Select notified stakeholders that Glenn MacNeill is no longer employed by the company and that Sandy McIntyre, Kevin MacLean and Laura Lau have taken over all portfolio management duties previously handled by MacNeill.

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Bank of Canada cuts overnight rate by 50 basis points

(April 22, 2008) Prompting little surprise, the Bank of Canada announced today that it will lower its overnight target rate by one-half of a percentage point to 3%.

The Bank is projecting a deeper and more protracted slowdown in the U.S. economy, saying in its statement, “Growth in the global economy has weakened, reflecting the effects of a sharp slowdown in the U.S. economy and ongoing dislocations in global financial markets. This has direct consequences for the Canadian economic outlook, with declining exports projected to exert a significant drag on growth in 2008.”

The Bank projects that the Canadian economy will grow by 1.4% this year, 2.4% in 2009, and 3.3% in 2010. The BoC also predicts that both core and total inflation will move up to 2% in 2010, “as the economy moves back into balance.”

A full analysis of economic and financial developments, trends and risks will be set out in the bank’s Monetary Policy Report, to be published on April 24. The Bank’s next scheduled date for announcing the overnight target rate is June 10.

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Less regulation occurs in foreign direct investment: Report

(April 22, 2008) A new report by the Conference Board of Canada highlights the need for more clarity in Canadian policies regarding stated and actual practices of foreign direct investment.

The report, by journalist and author Andrea Mandel-Campbell, comparatively examined foreign investment review policies and practices in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. All six countries were examined based on nine strategic sectors: airport infrastructure, ports, banking, utilities, railways, telecommunications, media, airlines, and nuclear power and uranium production.

Based on the findings, the U.K. is by far the most open to foreign direct investment, followed by the U.S. and Canada.

The author concluded that the U.K.’s “light touch” approach to regulation was a more competitive model that attracted regional and global headquarters of multinational corporations. At the other end was France’s “economic patriotism,” which Mandel-Campbell described as a “mercantilist investment model” that encouraged domestic mergers and acquisitions but protected domestic businesses from foreign takeover.

“Clarifying our foreign investment review policies is important, especially since the federal government recently showed that it is prepared to block the sale of Canadian-owned firms to foreign buyers,” says Mandel-Campbell.

The report, Foreign Investment Review Regimes: How Canada Stacks Up, is publicly available at www.e-library.ca.

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OSFI clarifies its role in ABCP issue

(April 22, 2008) The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions clarified its role in the ongoing asset-backed commercial paper issue today.

Superintendent Julie Dickson told media during a briefing that the freezing of the non-bank ABCP market in Canada has rightfully led to a lot of questions and that it is important to get to the bottom of what happened.

She then emphasized that the OSFI’s role is to help promote a safe and sound banking sector in Canada, to the benefit of all Canadians, especially depositors, and that the OSFI Guideline B-5 was prudent and necessary in order to set appropriate capital requirements for Canadian banks. The OSFI guideline also helped clarify roles and responsibilities in securitization structures. Finally, Dickson stressed that the OSFI does not oversee the firms that created the non-bank ABCP, so these firms are not subject to OSFI capital guidelines (such as OSFI Guideline B-5). She also reminded stakeholders that OSFI guidelines do not apply to the offshore banks that negotiated the bulk of the liquidity lines to non-bank ABCP conduits; they are subject to the capital rules of their home countries.

“It is clear that capital requirements on Canadian banks did not drive the uniqueness of the non-bank ABCP market in Canada. There are a number of factors that contributed to the current situation, and I believe a fulsome discussion and review are critical. OSFI looks forward to participating in these discussions,” said Dickson.

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Three of four execs willing to forgo part of salary for ‘green’ initiatives: Survey

(April 22, 2008) Close to three-quarters of executives (73%) are willing to sacrifice at least 1% of their salaries to fund their companies’ “green” initiatives, according to the latest executive quiz from Korn/Ferry International, a premier global provider of talent management solutions.

The survey also found that 40% of respondents would forgo between 1% and 2% of their salaries and that 3% of respondents would be willing to sacrifice up to 10% of their salaries.

“Clearly, the high number of executives willing to personally contribute to their company’s green initiatives signals a change in thinking around the importance of sustainability today,” said Jay Millen, senior client partner with Korn/Ferry International.

Interestingly, 69% of the respondents believe that “green” initiatives will take a back seat to profit-driven activities in these uncertain economic times.

(04/22/08)