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(January 30, 2007) Laurentian Bank of Canada, through its LBC Financial Services subsidiary, a mutual fund broker, will offer the Clarington Target Click Funds, which are designed to help investors participate in the growth potential of global equity markets while protecting their invested capital and gains against downside risk.

The Clarington Target Click Funds guarantee, at their scheduled maturity date, the highest month-end value ever achieved over the life of the Funds.

The Funds allow investors to choose from four global balanced funds with laddered maturity dates. Automatic asset allocation lowers risk as the Funds approach their scheduled maturity date by increasing allocation to fixed income and decreasing equity exposure, thus providing downside protection if the Funds are held to maturity.

The fund portfolio has an asset mix of active and passive components. The allocation between the active and the passive components changes as the Funds approach maturity. The active component is indirectly invested in global equity indexes, including the United States, Europe and the Far East.

The passive component is comprised of fixed-income securities, including strip bonds and T-bills, to support the guaranteed value at the scheduled maturity date.

With no cap or limit on returns, Laurentian said investors should receive the full benefit of the funds’ exposure to international equity markets.

The portfolio will be managed by ABN AMRO Asset Management Canada Limited, whose Holland-based parent company, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., will provide the guarantee for the highest unit value ever achieved.

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Xeye announces integration with PlanPlus

(January 30, 2007) Xeye, a leading provider of wealth management software has entered into a comprehensive partnership with PlanPlus, a market leader in financial planning solutions.

Xeye said the integration of its WealthManager and PlanPlus’s Web Advisor will allow clients to seamlessly navigate between the two applications, offering integrated wealth management and financial planning capabilities.

“PlanPlus Web Advisor allows advisors to deliver quality investment planning, modular advice, all the way to integrated financial planning,” said Shawn Brayman, president of PlanPlus.

One of the key features of the integration is the availability of financial plan data from PlanPlus in Xeye. This will improve the advisor’s ability to properly service clients. For example, an advisor will be able to search on various criteria such as clients without a plan, clients with outdated plans, and actual asset mixes outside of plan tolerance.

Craig O’Neill, CEO of Xeye, said he’s pleased with the integration. “This is another example of Xeye delivering advanced functionality to our user community and further testimony about the easy extensibility of the Xeye platform.”

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Credential Direct is tops in online brokerage ranking

(January 30, 2007) Credential Direct has been named as the top overall online brokerage in Canada in terms of features and functionality by Surviscor Inc.

Surviscor is a Canadian firm that analyzes and ranks Canadian online services offered to retail consumers. The company produces annual and semi-annual “scorecards,” which it hopes will serve as industry benchmarks for consumers and industry firms.

In its Q4 2006 Online Discount Brokerage Review released last week, Surviscor announced that Credential Direct received recognition for first place overall and was awarded top honours in the investor profile.

“We are pleased that our continued efforts in our online trading platform have once again garnered the top overall position in the Surviscor rankings,” said Lothar Fabian, vice-president, Credential Direct. “It is particularly gratifying to be rated number one in the investor profile, as this segment represents the majority of Canadian online investors.”

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La Capitale’s CEO, retires

(January 30, 2007) After 25 years at La Capitale General Insurance — 18 of them as CEO — Réal Circé has officially retired. Circé will be replaced by John Strome, the executive vice-president of La Capitale for the past three years.

Strome joined La Capitale back in 1985 and has successively held the positions of regional manager for Trois-Riviéres, insurance manager, director of operations, and vice-president of sales and development.

La Capitale ranks itself among the top five insurers in Quebec.

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Canadians paying too much for housing?

(January 30, 2007) More than 2,700,000 households countrywide are allotting too much of their income to keeping a roof over their heads. Calculations done by the Canadian Council on Social Development show that it is families who rent — almost 40% of all tenant households — that are the most likely to have to spend a disproportionate amount of their household income on shelter.

CCSD president Peter Blayer said that Canadians should avoid paying more than a third of their income on housing. “Everyone from bankers to financial planners to housing experts agree that 30% of your income is the most you should have to pay for a safe and healthy place to live. Yet it is a near impossible goal for many Canadians — even those who work full time.”

Provincially, CCSD found that nearly 45% of renters in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland paid more than one-third of their income on shelter costs.

Although Quebec is province with the most renters, they were the least likely to have to attribute more than 30% of their income to rent.

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(01/30/07)