Briefly: “United Financial reassigns fund managers” and more news

Previously this week: | MON | TUE | WED | THU |

United Financial has announced changes to the management of 13 managed portfolios, some of which will now be managed by corporate cousins under the CI Financial umbrella.

Three U.S. Equity Value mandates will be transferred from AllianceBernstein to Epoch Investment Partners. The three International Equity Value mandates managed by AllianceBernstein and AGF International Advisors will be managed by Altrinsic Global Advisors.

Management of two International Equity Diversified mandates will be transferred from AllianceBernstein to Altrinsic Global Advisors and Cambridge Advisors.

The Institutional Managed U.S. Equity Pool, currently managed by AllianceBernstein, will be managed by Epoch.

Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management will be replaced by Cambridge Advisors on two Canadian Equity Growth mandates. Two Canadian Equity Diversified mandates, currently managed by CC&L and Tetrem Capital Management, will be managed by Cambridge and Tetrem.

Contracts with AllianceBernstein will be terminated March 1, while all others will terminate April 1.

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RBC closes Channel Island deal

Royal Bank of Canada has closed the deal to purchase Mourant Private Wealth, which operates from the Channel Island of Jersey, as well as Dubai and Cayman.

The acquisition gives RBC Wealth Management a presence of 1,000 staff in Jersey, making the firm one of the largest financial services employers in the jurisdiction. The firm has an additional 300 staff in Guernsey and 200 more in London, Cheltenham and Edinburgh.

The deal brings more than £3.5 billion in AUM to RBC Wealth Management, bringing the firm’s wealth management AUM in the British Isles to more than £66.5 billion.

“Our latest acquisition and on-going client-facing staff hiring program demonstrates RBC’s commitment to developing our British Isles wealth platform,” said Paul Patterson, head of RBC Wealth Management in the British Isles.

“This transaction advances our long-term strategy to build further on our core business of providing integrated global wealth management services and solutions to international clients by hiring experienced professionals with strong client relationships.”

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Mercer launches new online retirement planning tools

Mercer has recently added two new personalized online retirement planning tools for its defined contribution administration clients, called MyView and MyView Plus, to help participants better understand and plan for retirement.

“Our research has shown time and again that retirement savers need and want help in planning for a successful retirement, and that employers and their administration providers are their number one sources for information,” notes Suzanne Nolan, director of marketing and communications for Mercer’s outsourcing business.

The MyView Retirement Planner automatically populates certain personal data points such as salary, current account balance, and other demographic information, allowing users to create a wide variety of financial scenarios. As the input fields are adjusted, the results are dynamically adjusted to indicate the impact even small changes can have on potential income in retirement.

“Our clients are rightly concerned about any decline in their participants’ contribution rates given the recent market volatility,” explains Nolan. “By bringing MyView and MyView Plus onto our standard platform, we feel we can help our clients by enabling more informed decision-making and encouraging behaviours that lead to better retirement planning.”

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Clark to stay at TD helm until 2013

No doubt pleased with the $712-million profit posted for the last quarter, the board of TD Bank Financial Group has extended the contract of president and CEO Ed Clark, which was set to expire October 10, 2010. Clark will now stick around in the top job until 2013.

“Ed’s leadership continues to be a valuable asset for our shareholders, so we are exceptionally pleased he has agreed to extend the terms of his employment with TD,” said John Thompson, chairman of the board. “Unlike many of its peers around the world, some of which are struggling to survive, TD remains one of the most reliably profitable banks in the world. Ed’s strategic vision and leadership have a lot to do with that.”

Clark’s pension will be frozen in October 2010, and the benefit he will receive at retirement will not increase in value beyond that determined under his original agreement.

The cash payments that would have been paid to him have been replaced with an equivalent option grant of $4.7 million, which will be awarded March 3, 2009.

Under the contract extension, Clark has waived his right to severance pay under any circumstances, which was last valued at $10.1 million. The contract now includes provisions that would allow the bank to recover any stock grants to Clark in the event of any fraudulent misrepresentation of financial results.

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Pathway hires new portfolio manager

Flow-through share specialist Pathway Asset Management has named William D.B. Koenig, CFA, CMA, as portfolio manager.

Effective immediately, Koenig takes over portfolio management of all Pathway, MineralFields and EnergyFields flow-through-limited partnerships, as well as the mining and energy series of the corporate class mutual fund Pathway Multi Series Fund Inc.

With the hiring of Koenig, Pathway has terminated its contract with sub-advisory firms Kingsmont Investment Management and Brickburn Asset Management. Koenig has been managing the several Pathway portfolios since last year, as a portfolio manager at Brickburn.

Koenig is the former chief investment officer of the Norrep Funds (Hesperian Capital), during a four-year period when that firm’s assets grew from $70 million to over $900 million.

(02/27/09)