TORONTO — Companies are aiming for higher performance to contend with the ever-changing risk landscape, but are not raising the bar on internal audit at the same pace, according to the PwC Internal Audit State of the Profession 2013 survey . However, before internal audit reaches new heights, it must continue to evolve its focus or risk losing relevance as other functions become more vital contributors in the risk management area.
April 29, 2013 - It cost Canadians between $19.2 billion and $24.8 billion to prepare, file and remit payment for personal income taxes, property taxes and business taxes in 2011, finds a new report from the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
April 24, 2013 -With the support of their respective boards of directors, The Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) and Supply Chain & Logistics Association Canada (SCL) today announced their intent to merge operations.
April 16, 2013 - While cost control remains the primary focus for many financial executives, others also are looking toward taking business from competitors, new research finds. Eighty-five per cent of chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed for a Robert Half Management Resources survey cited managing spending as a high priority in 2013, but close behind was capturing market share, which was reported as a main objective by 72 per cent of respondents.
April 9, 2013 – As Davis + Henderson’s first Chief Marketing Officer, Carrie Russell will be responsible for marketing, communications and new product commercialization. Russell will be a member of D+H’s executive management team and report directly to D+H CEO Gerrard Schmid.
April 2, 2013 - CGI is consolidating its security expertise and offerings in response to the rapidly increasing risk security threats pose to Canadian business by establishing a Security Centre of Excellence, located in Ottawa. The Security Centre of Excellence comprises over 200 security professionals, a 24/7/365 Security Operations Centre and one of three accredited security evaluation test centres in Canada.
March 21, 2013 – The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) reached a milestone this week when the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago became the organization's 100th member. AFI's network of institutions now expands across the globe, with representation in every region. Together, AFI members now cover more than 95 per cent of the world's unbanked population.
March 14, 2013 – In 2012, the total losses resulting from account takeover and new account fraud each rose by approximately 50 per cent over the previous year. These two fraud types impact consumers most severely, and are historically more difficult for FIs to prevent and detect than any other major fraud type. Today, Javelin Strategy & Research releases the firm’s 2013 Banking Identity Safety Scorecard. For eight years, Javelin has evaluated the top 25 FIs by deposit size based on their consumer facing security features in the three fraud stages of Javelin’s Protection, Detection, and Resolution Model.
Mar 15, 2013 – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today joined Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in leading a nine state coalition demanding new, permanent leadership at the Federal Housing and Finance Agency, the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a letter to the President and Congressional leaders, the attorneys general write that under the current leadership of the FHFA’s Acting Director Edward DeMarco, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been a “direct impediment to our economic recovery” by the continued refusal to give principal relief for struggling homeowners, and call for a new permanent leader to replace DeMarco, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
March 14, 2013- Canada's first online Chartered Accounting firm is offering its services to small businesses over a webcam, bringing businesses into the digital age while saving on paper. This new online service is challenging the conventional approach, allowing entrepreneurs to remain focused on their day- to-day business-critical tasks while being able to connect to their chartered accountant on the go.
Mar 7, 2013 - A recent study of financial industry leaders showed a growing trend towards mobile financial management, with more than 66 percent of respondents now processing transactions from their devices, according to Bill.com.
Mar 5, 2013 - The city of Appleton, Wis., is reporting extraordinary results just four months into its LUKE II multi-space parking pay station trial. The city attributes a 300 per cent increase in parking revenues to the pay stations' ability to accept bills as payment and because consumers can no longer piggyback on time from previous parking.
February 13, 2013 - Defined benefit plans represent a substantial risk to many organizations – these companies need to devise a comprehensive strategy to lower their risks. That’s the major conclusion of a new research study by the Canadian Financial Executives Research Foundation (CFERF) which shows that almost 60 per cent of financial executives surveyed indicated that their pension plan posed either a moderate or substantial risk to their organization. The research project was sponsored by Mercer.
February 13, 2013 - Tax simplification would provide countless economic benefits, according to a report released by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada). Some of the benefits cited in the report include lower compliance and administration costs, improved efficiencies, better tax planning opportunities and positive effects on Canada's economic growth
February 3, 2013 - The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is assisting small businesses to get ready for penniless cash transactions. On February 4, the Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing one-cent coins to financial institutions and started gradually pulling pennies out of circulation.
January 22, 2013 -- The Canadian Securities Institute (CSI), a Toronto-based global leader in financial services education and credentialing, has launched a Certificate in Advanced Mutual Funds Advice (CMFA). As investor needs become increasingly complex and diverse, the addition of this new financial education option is part of CSI’s strategy to offer specialized credentials that help advisors meet growing consumer expectations and raise the bar in the professionalization of advice.
January 4, 2013 --A $1.3 billion surge of new equity issues in the fourth quarter helped turn around the 2012 Canadian IPO market and raises hopes for growth in 2013, the annual survey of Canadian equity markets by PwC has revealed.
December 18, 2012 --Incurring expenses on behalf of a client is part of the cost of doing business. While many of those costs – such as travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses – can be passed along to the client, the majority of professional services organizations utilize error-prone systems that are costing them money.A recent survey of professional services businesses by BMO Financial Group and Chrome River Technologies,revealed that while companies understand the need to spend on behalf of their clients, there is some confusion around which costs can be billed back to the client due to traveling professionals who frequently aren’t aware of their own internal expense policies or their customers’ policies. This can be attributed to the lack of visibility to their policies, because the policies are not built into a manual expense process like they are in an automated expense system.
December 14, 2012---The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today published Consultation Paper 45-710 Considerations For New Capital Raising Prospectus Exemptions, which discusses concepts for new prospectus exemptions in Ontario. The objective is to facilitate capital raising in the exempt market, while continuing to deliver strong investor protection.
December 13, 2012 --Ottawa must move carefully in deciding the best role for the Bank of Canada in preventing threats to financial stability, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In "Seeking Financial Stability: The Best Role for the Bank of Canada," former Bank of Canada Governor John Crow assesses how much of a role the Bank should play in this new policy front.
December 12, 2012 --Incurring expenses on behalf of a client is part of the cost of doing business. While many of those costs – such as travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses – can be passed along to the client, the majority of professional services organizations utilize error-prone systems that are costing them money.
December 11, 2012 --While transparency is critical to well-functioning capital markets and effective monetary policy, forward policy guidance is best used sparingly by central banks in normal times, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said today. In a speech to the Toronto CFA Society, the Governor discussed where policy guidance can be most effective and when it may be warranted.
December 9, 2012 --A global, nomadic approach to personal and professional life is a key factor to the success of millionaires around the world, according to a new research report released today by RBC Wealth Management and The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Quality of life and family needs were the top considerations for millionaires who left their birth country in search of success, rated as important by 88 per cent and 79 per cent respectively, while business interests were a key factor for two-thirds (67 per cent).
December 6, 2012--Canada's CFO of the Year™ program presents its distinguished panel of business leaders from across the country which will review nominations and select Canada's 2013 CFO of the Year™ Award winner.
After 10 years of service, Peter Dey, Chairman of Paradigm Capital Inc., will be stepping down as chair of this independent selection committee. Canada's CFO of the Year™ program thanks Mr. Dey for his insights, leadership and guidance during the past decade.
December 4, 2012 —Canadian businesses are at risk of falling behind international competitors in the era of Big Data. A recent survey conducted by IDC Canada and commissioned by SAS, has found Canadian that while 96 per cent of Canadian companies say the ability to process and act on data in real time is important, less than half (48%) have invested in the technologies to do so.
November 30, 2012 --Scotiabank was recognized at the 2012 Canadian Marketing Awards Gala winning a number of awards for its "Richness is" campaign as well as in the customer management categories for its SCENE 3D program and for mobile banking.
November 27, 2012--As the first step in raising the awareness across North America of the emerging "Data Science Centre of Excellence" in Atlantic Canada, T4G Leading Thinkers and the New Brunswick Information Technology Council (NBITC) announce the 2013 Big Data Congress.
November 23, 2012 --Recent studies indicate major discrepancies between the perception of privacy protection in Canada and the reality behind the ability of companies to protect personal information. A recent report from Advertising Standards Canada and MacLaren McCann indicates widespread willingness among Canadians to share personal information, with up to 79% exchanging their data to obtain a benefit
November 21, 2012 ---Activity in the Québec venture capital (VC) market returned to cruising speed in the third quarter (Q3) of 2012, advancing at a sustained pace with $112 million in investments, a slight 2% decline from Q3 2011.
November 13 , 2012 -- Canada's C-Suite is bracing for a mass exodus over the next five years and little has been done to fill the imminent void. As the country's top senior executives prepare for retirement, Canadian organizations are faced with a significant threat: a massive skills gap that has the potential to stifle innovation and productivity.
November 9 , 2012 -- The sentiment of Canadian chief financial officers (CFOs) of middle-market companies on the state of their own industry and the strength of the national economy remained steady and positive in the third quarter, according to the latest GE Capital Mid-Market CFO Survey. CFOs' view of the world economy was unchanged and remains less optimistic than about the national economy.
November 6, 2012 -- Wells Fargo & Company, a U.S.-based financial services company, is expanding its wholesale banking capabilities throughout Canada. Currently a lender to middle market companies in the U.S., it can now provide expanded lending, treasury management, foreign exchange and trade services to customers in Canada.
October 29, 2012 -- Manulife Financial has completed its acquisition of independent financial planning firm Wellington West Financial Services Inc., a division of Wellington West Holdings Inc., and a dealership registered with the Mutual Funds Dealers Association (MFDA), from National Bank.
October 23, 2012 -- Canadians may be more pessimistic about the overall state of the global economy, but they're still pursuing growth opportunities, Ernst & Young says in a new survey. Forty-four percent of Canadian companies expect to acquire in the next 12 months, down slightly from 48% in April, but significantly more than only 25% of their global counterparts.
October 18, 2012 -- The third quarter of 2012 saw 599 announced Canadian M&A transactions worth $58.6 billion. Volumes were down 17% from Q2 2012 and 21% from the same period last year, according to PwC's Q3 Canadian M&A Deals Quarterly.
October 9, 2012 -- Following collaboration with business and corporate stakeholders, Canada’s financial institutions, led by the Canadian Payments Association (CPA) and the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), have endorsed a best practice for the treatment of wire payments for their customers.
October 3, 2012 -- After the rally in Canadian stocks this summer, Canadian investment managers are less bullish about domestic securities and are finding other global markets increasingly attractive, according to the latest Russell Canadian Investment Manager Outlook from global asset manager Russell Investments.
October 1, 2012 -- Nominations are now being accepted for the 2013 Canada's CFO of the Year™ Award. The presenting sponsors for the 2013 award are Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada), PwC and Robert Half. Now in its 11th year, the award honours the quality, insight, direction and leadership of Canada's senior financial leaders.
September 28, 2012 -- RBC Investor Services has launched its Global Derivatives Platform, a new, fully integrated global operating model for listed and OTC derivatives. This single platform and operating model was developed to deliver middle and back-office services to listed and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives for a wide range of global clients.
September 18, 2012 -- Two thirds of CFOs say they are involved in driving sustainability strategies in their organizations, and more than half say their involvement has increased over the last year, according to a global survey launched by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), Sustainability: CFOs come to the table.
September 13, 2012 -- Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company, has announced the membership of Pershing Securities Canada Limited (Pershing), its new Canadian affiliate, with the Toronto Stock Exchange.
September 12, 2012 -- As a result of business tax reform since 2005, Canada has become the most tax-competitive jurisdiction in the G-7 according to a report released today by The School of Public Policy.
September 11, 2012 -- RBC has announced changes to its business segments, effective October 31, 2012 . RBC's business segments for financial reporting purposes will be: Investor & Treasury Services; Personal & Commercial Banking; Capital Markets; Wealth Management; and Insurance.
September 11, 2012 -- B2B Bank has announced the launch of its new mutual fund and investment dealer services, B2B Bank Dealer Services which is designed to deliver investment account administration and services to the Canadian investment community.
September 7, 2012 -- The global commodities boom drives enormous benefits for Canada, including higher incomes and greater economic security, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said today in a speech to the 2012 Spruce Meadows Changing Fortunes: Global Economies Round Table.
September 6, 2012 -- Scotiabank has reached a definitive agreement to purchase ING Bank of Canada (ING DIRECT) from Netherlands-based parent ING Group for $3.126 billion in cash, which is expected to result in a net investment by Scotiabank of approximately $1.9 billion after deducting the excess capital currently at ING DIRECT.
August 24, 2012 -- TD Canada Trust has earned the top spot in Customer Service Excellence among the big 5 banks in Canada for the eighth consecutive year according to global market research firm Ipsos.
August 24, 2012 -- For an eighth consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first in overall Customer Service Excellence among all financial institutions in the 2012 Ipsos Best Banking Awards.
August 14, 2012 -- Global car sales advanced six percent in the first half of 2012, according to a Global Auto Report released by Scotiabank Economics. Japan and Russia are leading the way, with gains of 52 percent year over year (y/y) and 29 percent respectively.
August 8, 2012 -- To fill management positions, companies are more likely to look for talent outside rather than within their own ranks, a new survey from Robert Half Management Resources suggests.
July 30, 2012 -- Ramping up government spending on infrastructure, rather than trimming interest rates, may be Canada's best path should economic growth falter in the next year, notes a new report from CIBC world Markets Inc.
July 27, 2012 -- Weakening growth in emerging markets, Europe's fiscal and economic woes, and sluggish job creation in the U.S. are weighing on growth in the provincial economies. But despite the global economic uncertainty, The Conference Board of Canada's Provincial Outlook-Summer 2012 forecasts solid growth in Western Canada this year and next. Central and Atlantic Canadian economies will slowly gain traction over the same period.
July 18, 2012 -- FINCAD, provider of financial risk analytics technology, has announced the launch of F3 3.0. The new release includes enhancements such as market correlation calibration for hybrid modeling and dual-curve stripping capabilities consistent with the cross-currency market including cheapest-to-deliver curve construction.
July 16, 2012 -- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced draft regulatory changes that, when finalized, will allow credit unions and caisses populaires to more easily expand beyond provincial boundaries.
July 13, 2012 -- BNY Mellon, provider of investment management and investment services, has appointed Dan Gosselin chief executive officer of BNY Trust Company of Canada and head of its corporate trust business in Canada.
July 6, 2012 -- Cambridge Mercantile Group, provider of customizable global payments, has added the Check Elimination Solution to its suite of products and services. The solution offers companies a method to convert from paying suppliers by cheque to using low-cost card and ACH-based electronic payments.
June 28, 2012 -- BMO Spend & Payment Solutions, a division of BMO Financial Group and Chrome River Technologies, a provider of online expense reporting and invoice management services have announced a strategic referral and solution development partnership.
June 27, 2012 -- Jefferies, a global investment banking firm, has announced its plans to expand into Canada. Steven Latimer has joined as a Managing Director and Head of Canadian Investment Banking, and will initially focus on the metals and mining sector. He will be based in Toronto.
June 25, 2012 -- At the Investment Industry Association of Canada’s (IIAC) Annual General Meeting on June 6, 2012 in Toronto, Roman Dubczak, Managing Director and Head of Cash Equities, Wholesale Banking with CIBC World Markets Inc., welcomed the election of two new Vice Chairs.
June 25, 2012 -- Cambridge Mercantile Group, provider of corporate foreign exchange and global payments services, has received the Deutsche Bank Straight-Through-Processing (STP) Excellence Awards for 2011. The award recognizes outstanding performance with respect to payments processing.
June 18, 2012 -- Celestica Inc., a deliverer of end-to-end product lifecycle solutions, has announced that over the course of the next three to six months, it will wind down its manufacturing services for Research in Motion (RIM).
June 14, 2012 -- BNY Mellon, provider of investment management and investment services, has been appointed indenture trustee, collateral agent and financial model custodian for Capital City Link General Partnership's (CCLGP) CAD$534.8 million bond issuance. CCLGP will use the proceeds of the issuance to finance construction of the northeast leg of Anthony Henday Drive, a ring road highway around Edmonton.
June 12, 2012 -- Executives want up-to-date information about what is happening in their company in order to make better and faster decisions. According to Real Time Business: Making the Most of Big Data, a study conducted by the Canadian Financial Research Foundation (CFERF), the demand for accurate operational data in real time is driven in part by the widespread use of mobile devices in the workplace, a trend known as the consumerization of IT.
June 11, 2012 -- Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada) has announced its 2012-2013 board of directors including incoming chair Lisa Dorian. The new board was elected via ballot prior to FEI Canada's annual general meeting, which took place on June 5, 2012 in St. John's, Newfoundland.
May 9, 2012 --Canadian chief financial officers (CFOs) of middle-market companies are positive about the current state of their own industry as well as the domestic economy, according to the first Canadian Mid-Market CFO Survey by GE Capital, Canada.
April, 2012-- According to PwC’s 2012 State of the internal audit profession study, nearly three-quarters of the 1,530 chief audit executives and stakeholders surveyed cited global economic uncertainty as the biggest risk to companies in 2012.
March 23, 2012-- Large companies and their corporate payments systems remain the prime targets for fraudsters, according to the 2012 AFP Payments Fraud and Control survey released today by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).
March 19, 2012-- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Global Commercial Card business and AirPlus International, a leading provider of corporate travel & entertainment expense solutions, announced the formation of a strategic partnership to help multinational organizations optimize processes and strengthen control of their corporate card and travel expense management programs.
March 8, 2012-- Twenty per cent of chief financial officers (CFOs) plan to add full-time accounting and finance employees during the second quarter, while 11 per cent forecast staff decreases, according to the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index. The resulting net 9 per cent increase mirrors the previous quarter's forecast.
February 27, 2012 -- A slower economy is not stopping Canadian CEOs from using mergers and acquisitions as a key growth strategy, as their desire to expand into foreign markets grows. This is according to the 15th Annual Global CEO Survey conducted by PwC, which compared the views of 130 chief executives in Canada to their counterparts around the world.
February 21, 2012 -- The dollar value of attempted fraudulent activity is staggering according to Equifax Canada’s application fraud data. Figures derived from Equifax’s fraud solution database for the financial sector reveal that there was more than $650 million in fraud incidents detected across Canada in 2011.
February 21, 2012 -- Senior Canadian treasury professionals have spoken out about the impact of the euro crisis on their businesses and their concerns about how prepared their banks are to deal with a country exiting the eurozone.
February 8, 2012 -- Brand Finance released its annual Banking 500 report, a study analyzing the financial value of the world’s top banking brands. First published in 2006, the Brand Finance Banking 500 in association with The Banker, incorporates data from all listed companies globally.
February 8, 2012 -- SunGard has completed a cash management study that highlights the growing importance of money market funds (MMFs) among corporate treasurers. As economic and regulatory challenges create greater complexity in managing cash, treasurers have become aware of the importance of defining and delivering on the right investment policies.
February 1, 2012 -- Dovetail, the provider of next generation payment services hubs, today announces that BMO Financial Group (BMO) has signed a contract and started to implement the Dovetail Payment Services Hub. Dovetail enables organizations to reduce the number of payment platforms they operate, centralize processing of multiple currencies and payment types, increase straight through processing and lower processing costs, and provide better, more holistic real-time information to their clients to help them manage the entire payment process.
January 26, 2012 -- Linedata, the global solutions provider dedicated to the investment management and credit industries, today announced that Canadian hedge fund Radiant Investment Management has gone live with Linedata Beauchamp, the company’s award-winning portfolio management software, and part of Linedata’s full front-to-back solution for hedge funds.
January 24, 2012 -- IT2 Treasury Solutions today announced the latest version of its treasury management solution, IT2 7.2: Treasury Transparency & Performance. The launch addresses emerging demands on treasury with a series of major enhancements to the solution.
January 9, 2012 -- SunGard has completed its acquisition of Syntesys, a European SWIFT service bureau and network of business and technical experts dedicated to serving the SWIFT community. The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, is not expected to have a material impact on SunGard’s financial results.
December 20, 2011 -- Investment manager sentiment towards Canadian and international equity markets improved in the fourth quarter, with emerging markets leading the way, according to the latest Russell Investment Manager Outlook, which was conducted between November 15 and 25, 2011.
December 20, 2011 -- TD Canada Trust ranked first in Surviscor’s 2011 Public Website scorCard, a comprehensive, impartial audit of online features and functionality on the public/pre-login website of leading Canadian banks and credit unions.
December 19, 2011 -- Looking toward the new year, chief financial officers (CFOs) expect the financial hiring outlook to improve in the first quarter. Ten per cent of executives interviewed for the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index said they plan to add full-time accounting and finance employees, while only one per cent forecast staff decreases. The resulting net 9 per cent increase is up one point from the fourth-quarter survey.
December 19, 2011 --
Short-term sentiment has driven markets at the expense of long-term investment thinking during a markedly volatile 2011, says HSBC Global Asset Management. But this has created what it believes to be a potentially attractive set of investment opportunities for 2012 for those with a longer-term perspective.
December 13, 2011 -- SAS Canada, the leader in business analytics software and services and TransUnion, a global leader in credit and information management, today announced the development of one of the first consortiums in Canada that will leverage anonymized credit file information, in conjunction with application and fraud data from participating financial institutions to greatly enhance fraud detection.
December 8, 2011 -- SAP today announced an update of its industry-specific banking software, including planned enhancements to help banks excel in today’s financial climate. The forthcoming 8.0 release of banking services is planned to include analytics tailored to the latest compliance regulations as well as accommodation of mergers and acquisitions through highly flexible transactional banking.
December 5, 2011 -- Nearly 40% of companies worldwide plan to shift some foreign investment from developed to emerging markets within five years, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit paper, Canadain a Globalised Economy: An investment perspective,sponsored by Ernst & Young.
December 1, 2011 -- Linedata, the global solutions provider dedicated to the investment management and credit industries, today announced the results of its Annual Global Investment Management Survey. Key findings include the recognition of regulation as a present and future challenge; a clear move towards cloud computing and hosted environments; plus risk and trading systems as top IT priorities. Despite a small number of downbeat pronouncements, the majority predicted market growth in 2012.
November 14, 2011 -- The good news for Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is that there will continue to be opportunities for growth in 2012. The challenge is that this growth will be modest, the Canadian dollar will stay strong and consumers will be cautious in taking on more debt, according to BMO Economist, Sal Guatieri, who presented an economic outlook for 2012 to small-and-medium-sized-businesses gathered last week at FEI Canada's 4th Annual SME Conference 2011: Driving Growth and Expansion at the Mississauga Convention Centre.
November 3, 2011 -- For the second straight year RBC Royal Bank has ranked 1st in Surviscor’s Online Banking scorCard, a comprehensive, objective annual assessment of online features and functionality at major Canadian banking institutions.
October 26, 2011 -- US credit card charge-offs improved significantly in September, according to Moody's Credit Card Index.Moody's charge-off rate fell to 5.27%, its lowest point since December 2007, with the six largest issuers each posting sizeable declines in their trust charge-off rates.
October 18, 2011 -- Kaye Scholer LLP has announced that it represented Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent and a lender, and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated as lead arranger, in a $1.8 billion U.S. and Canadian revolving credit facility extended to United Rentals ( North America), Inc. and United Rentals of Canada, Inc. and certain of their affiliates.
October 14, 2011 -- Faced with global economic uncertainty, 51 per cent of Canadian businesses believe 2012 will be a better year than 2011, and only 13 per cent expect it to be worse. More than one in three (79 per cent) of Canadian business owners also plan to invest the same amount or more into their business in 2012, according to a new report from BMO Bank of Montreal.
October 5, 2011 -- NetWorth Services, Inc., a leading provider of cost basis products and services has announced the introduction of a new addition to their suite of Netbasis products - Netbasis-Canada. The result of a synergistic collaboration between NetWorth Services and Exchange Data International (EDI), Netbasis-Canada will provide crucial cost basis services to the Canadian financial industry.
October 5, 2011 --
Canadian companies are lessening their dependence on the U.S. as a trade partner with exports now 30 per cent more diversified than a decade ago, finds a new economic report from CIBC World Markets.
October 4, 2011--Tax simplification is not only desirable and beneficial, it's achievable, said the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) during its pre-budget appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
October 3, 2011--Scotiabank has expanded its app offerings, including Android for Canadian cusotmers, and a Smartphone application is available to customers in 20 Caribbean countries. This complements the Bank's existing suite of apps, now available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users in Canada.
September 21, 2011--- To better address the current lending environment Credit History Reports (CHR) are now available through PayNet’s online system to provide Canadian commercial finance lenders with exclusive credit profiles on hundreds of thousands of privately-held businesses.
September 21, 2011--- PayNet, a firm that provides risk management tools and market insight to the Canadian commercial finance industry, has released the 2nd quarter 2011 Canadian Business Lending Index (CBLI). The Index signals the first signs of definitive growth. Its rise to 133 from the bottom of 127 hit last year is the first solid increase on both a year over year and quarter over quarter since 2007.
September 20, 2011---
Over the summer, the global economic outlook deteriorated, the European sovereign debt crisis intensified, and investor confidence decreased in the ability of policy-makers to respond, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said today.
September 15, 2011---Canadians' confidence in the economy continued its drop from last month as the economic climate continues to worsen in both Europe and the United States.The TNS Canadian Consumer Confidence Index dropped more than another point, from 97.6 to 96.4, after dropping two points in August.
September 12, 2011---Small business confidence took a significant hit in August as owners digested a string of bad news about world economy in the first half of the month. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)'s Business Barometer Index dropped to 61.7 last month from its July level of 68.3—the lowest reading since July 2009.
September 7, 2011---Small business confidence took a significant hit in August as owners digested a string of bad news about world economy in the first half of the month. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)'s Business Barometer Index dropped to 61.7 last month from its July level of 68.3—the lowest reading since July 2009.
September 7, 2011---The three parties represented in the Ontario Legislature have all expressed strong support for a national securities regulator headquartered in Toronto and, for the first time, all agree that the federal government should be asked to review the treatment of HST with regard to financial products. These are just two of the topics addressed during an all candidates debate on issues of importance to the financial services industry that was arranged by the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA).
September 7, 2011---Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Scotiabank announced Tuesday that Scotiabank has entered an exclusive partnership to be the Official Bank of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The announcement of the agreement will take place at the 2011 Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic. Scotiabank is the presenting sponsor of the event, benefitting the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) Team Up Foundation.
September 6, 2011---Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Scotiabank announced Tuesday that Scotiabank has entered an exclusive partnership to be the Official Bank of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The announcement of the agreement will take place at the 2011 Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic. Scotiabank is the presenting sponsor of the event, benefitting the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) Team Up Foundation.
August 31, 2011---CIBC announced today that it has completed the acquisition of a 41 percent equity interest in American Century Investments, a leading U.S.-based asset management company, for U.S.$848 million in cash.
August 30, 2011---For the seventh consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first in overall Customer Service Excellence among all financial institutions, surpassing all Canadian banks in Synovate Canada's annual Best Banking Awards. Credit unions also took sole honours in two other categories: Values My Business and Branch Service Excellence.
August 30, 2011---TD Canada Trust has earned the number one ranking in Customer Service Excellence among the top five banks in Canada for the seventh year in a row, according to a survey by global market research firm Synovate. TD was an award recipient among the top five banks in all 11 categories and leads by a significant margin in five of the eleven categories.
August 30, 2011---CIBC today announced that it is being recognized by Global Finance Magazine as "Best in Mobile Banking" among North American Consumer Internet banks. This is the first year the mobile banking category has been included in the Global Finance awards, reflecting the emergence of mobile technology as a rapidly growing area in North American banking.
August 29, 2011---Continuing to expand on one of Canada's most comprehensive financial recovery practices, BDO Canada Limited is pleased to announce the integration of KPMG's consumer insolvency practice into BDO's national financial recovery services practice. Effective August 26th, 2011, the practices now operate under the BDO Canada Limited name.
August 25, 2011---Canadian banks are expected to continue doing well relative to their global peers but aren't necessarily shielded from the challenges plaguing the world's financial institutions, including concerns about growth, capital, data and regulatory issues, says Ernst & Young.
August 24, 2011--FINCAD, the market leader for innovative derivatives solutions in the financial industry, is pleased to announce that Mike Brooks has joined FINCAD as Sr. Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer and member of the Executive. He brings to FINCAD more than 15 years’ experience in the software industry in Vancouver.
August 23, 2011--The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) commercial real estate investment market has rebounded strongly from the market trough of two years ago. Solid property-market fundamentals and record sale volumes in the retail sector signal the GTA is poised to achieve unprecedented investment results by year-end 2011.
August 22, 2011--As Canada's economy emerged from recession and the flow of private sector credit available to small business gradually improved, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) continued to provide strong support to Canadian entrepreneurs.
August 22, 2011--TD Bank Group and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation today announced a donation of $20,000 to help Goderich after being hit by Ontario's most powerful tornado in years. The tornado caused extensive damage to the town known as a popular tourist destination with historical charm.
August 16, 2011--TD Bank Group (TD) and Bank of America Corporation today announced a definitive agreement under which TD will purchase MBNA Canada's credit card portfolio, as well as certain other assets and liabilities. TD will pay a modest premium on an expected $8.5 billion of credit card receivables at closing.
August 12, 2011--Fidessa Group, a vendor of trading, investment management, and information solutions, has integrated Fincad’s derivatives pricing library into its sell-side trading platforms. Surrey, BC-based Fincad’s derivatives technology is already integrated into Fidessa’s buy-side platforms.
August 11, 2011--The British Columbia Securities Commission today announced steps it is taking to improve investor protection in the "exempt market". It will require more disclosure from companies that raise money in BC's securities markets under prospectus exemptions.
August 4, 2011--Investments in customer-facing systems and processes by the Big Five banks and midsize banks have contributed to a substantial increase in overall customer satisfaction with retail banks in Canada, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction StudySM released today.
August 3, 2011 --comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, announced the comScore Canadian Online Banking Insights report, providing a detailed look into emerging trends in the Canadian online banking industry. Based on comScore's opt-in research panel of approximately 40,000 Canadian Internet users, the detailed quarterly reports include web site visitation, online marketing metrics, transaction benchmarks and mobile banking data that yield critical insights into emerging trends and consumer behavior in the Canadian online banking industry.
August 3, 2011 -- An independent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid across Canada, the U.S. and the UK on behalf of Shred-it, a world-leading information security company providing document destruction services, reveals that 30 percent of business operators in the financial sector are not worried about the potential implications of a security breach. This statistic stands in contrast to the 96 percent of financial service respondents who reported that they know of their legal obligation to protect client information, the highest percentage of all of the sectors surveyed.
August 2, 2011 -- US Legal Support Incorporated, a provider of full-service court reporting, record retrieval, legal staffing, litigation, trial and document review services, has selected SunGard’s AvantGard Receivables to help automate its order-to-cash cycle for improved operational efficiencies and cash flow.
July 27, 2011 -- After falling in May, Scotiabank's Commodity Price Index, which measures price trends in 32 of Canada's major exports, eased further in June, though the decline was slight at -0.3% m/m. The All Items Index has corrected only moderately by -2.8% from the April-2011 near-term peak and remains 55.3% above the cyclical low in April 2009, following the 'Great Recession'.
July 26, 2011 -- Investments in customer-facing systems and processes by the Big Five banks and midsize banks have contributed to a substantial increase in overall customer satisfaction with retail banks in Canada, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study SM released today.
July 26, 2011 -- TD Canada Trust has received the highest ranking in customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study SM, for the sixth year in a row.
July 26, 2011 -- Reinforcing its commitment to unprecedented value and customer service, President's Choice Financial was today ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Midsize Retail Banks, Five Years in a Row" in the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study SM.
July 25, 2011 -- Reval, the premier provider of financial risk management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to corporations and financial institutions globally, announced today that Patrick Cannon has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Client Services to oversee dedicated Professional Services and Client Solutions teams in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Cannon brings over 16 years of experience in client-facing roles in the financial technology industry.
July 21, 2011 -- Faltering global equity markets largely erased fixed income advances during the June quarter, according to a survey just released by RBC Dexia Investor Services, which maintains the industry's most comprehensive universe of Canadian pension plans and money managers.
July 21, 2011 -- Fiscal restraint by Canadian governments—and households—will curb national economic growth this year, according to The Conference Board of Canada's Canadian Outlook - Summer 2011. Real GDP growth is expected to slow to 2.5 per cent in 2011, down from 3.2 per cent last year.
July 20, 2011 -- Home Trust Company, one of Canada's leading Trust companies and ninth largest deposit-taking financial institution, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Home Capital Group Inc., today announced it has successfully gone live with solutions from the SAP® For Banking solution portfolio. With these offerings from SAP AG, Home Trust has joined a growing list of financial institutions worldwide by investing in a platform to power its growth. With the implementation of SAP for Banking solutions, Home Trust has improved its ability to introduce new products, enhance reporting of business operations, achieve substantial new efficiencies and drive future growth and profitability.
July 15, 2011 -- The current drama in Washington over increasing the U.S. debt ceiling and related conditions to reduce deficits is just the opening act in a long series of intense negotiations. There is no pain-free way for the United States to deal with its excesses of the past, which has added to the risks for sustained growth in Canada, according to a Conference Board of Canada briefing released today.
July 12, 2011 -- The vast majority (85 percent) of online investors are using their online investing accounts for either long-term goals or a combination of long-term and short-term ones, according to the latest RBC Direct Investing poll. Contrary to popular perception that many online investors are looking for quick financial gains, just nine percent of Canadian online investors are seeking short-term profit through their online investing accounts.
July 12, 2011 -- Canadians believe the emerging markets—in particular Asian nations such as China and India —represent the best investment opportunities, according to Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.'s latest national research.
July 11, 2011 -- Cambridge Mercantile Group, a leader in the foreign exchange and global payments industry, has received the Deutsche Bank Straight Through Processing (STP) Excellence Awards in recognition of the outstanding STP rating of 98.57% for USD payments and 99.96% for EUR payments. This marks the third consecutive year Cambridge has been honoured with the Deutsche Bank STP Excellence Awards.
July 6, 2011 -- Optimism among Canada's small- and medium-sized business owners fell slightly in June. According to the latest business confidence survey findings from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the business confidence index came in at 66.3, down about a point from May's 66.9 level and its 70.7 April peak
June 28, 2011 -- There's no shortage of pressures facing today's top finance professionals, according to a new Robert Half report, CFO Concerns: What Are the Top Challenges Facing Today's Financial Executives? The report highlights a number of issues impacting the role, namely controlling costs and improving profitability, maintaining staff morale and motivation, and managing growth.
June 27, 2011 -- Despite a few lingering economic concerns and a slower than expected recovery from the recession, a majority of small business owners anticipate higher revenues and more hiring in the months ahead, according to a new survey from TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®.
June 27, 2011 -- TD has pledged $250,000 towards the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation's campaign to build a new centre for mental health and addictions, which includes the expansion of the UBC Medical School and funds to support TD Grants in Medical Excellence to further the education of health-care workers at Lions Gate Hospital. The announcement was made today at the TD Canada Trust branch at 14 th and Lonsdale in North Vancouver.
June 23, 2011 -- Desjardins Group, a major sponsor of cycling in Québec, is proud to participate for the second consecutive year in the presentation of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. These two exceptional trials, which are part of the UCI WorldTour, are set to take place on September 9 and 11 of this year.
June 20, 2011 -- OTTAWA -- The Bank of Canada unveiled a new polymer bank note series today at its head office in Ottawa. Information on the polymer material and advanced new security features was released, along with the images and designs of the soon-to-be-issued $100 and $50 bank notes, and the themes for the remaining notes in the series.
Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty and RCMP Commissioner William J. S. Elliott joined Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney for the unveiling ceremony.
June 17, 2011 -- As the owner of Canada's largest commercial risk database, Equifax has raised the industry standard for innovation by launching a powerful information solution. The new Equifax Business Credit Report (TM) provides a comprehensive view of the credit history and payment performance of small firms and large businesses – a valuable tool for managing risk and acquiring profitable customers. With its user-friendly format, Canadian lenders and providers of commercial credit can quickly identify potential risky accounts, better assess the financial profile of applicants and make more informed credit decisions.
June 16, 2011 -- RBC today announced that it will become title sponsor of the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina, signing a five-year golf sponsorship through to 2016.
An iconic event on the PGA TOUR since 1969, the tournament, to be named the RBC Heritage, is one of the players' favourite stops and boasts one of the most challenging and precise tests of golf on tour. Past champions have included such golfing greats as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tom Watson, and Team RBC ambassador Jim Furyk.
June 16, 2011 -- CIBC Mellon has surpassed $1 trillion in assets under administration (AUA), demonstrating the company's leading position in the Canadian asset and investment servicing industry.
"Achieving this milestone clearly illustrates our clients' recognition of the superior service and product solutions they receive by partnering with CIBC Mellon," said Tom Monahan, president and chief executive officer, CIBC Mellon. "While institutions across the globe remained challenged by economic headwinds, we are proud to have experienced marked growth in our AUA and our client base. We look forward to continuing to provide our clients with the best asset and investment servicing experience in Canada."
June 13, 2011 --Canadian consumers remain more confident than their American counterparts according to the latest results of the Harris/Decima-Investors Group Consumer Confidence Index. In the latest wave of the quarterly survey, Canadian consumer confidence index stood at 83.7, down slightly from 86.2 in February, but still well ahead of the US, where the index stood at 74.3.
Canadians remain more likely to see good times financially for themselves a year from now than bad. In total, 25% believe they will be better off financially a year from now. Conversely, 15% feel they will be worse off a year from now. In February, this split was 31%-13%.
June 11, 2011 --TD Bank Group today announced the launch of TD Auto Finance, its new auto lending brand, at an employee event in Farmington Hills to celebrate the lender's new name, new logo and a new beginning.
TD Bank Group (TD) closed the purchase of Chrysler Financial in April of this year, combining its existing auto lending business with Chrysler Financial under a new North American auto lending brand -- TD Auto Finance. TD Auto Finance provides a robust array of automotive financing options to meet its customers' needs as well as the needs of its dealer partners.
June 7, 2011 -- RBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, today announced key management appointments for its operations in Asia.
Doug Moore has been appointed to the newly created position of head of RBC Capital Markets, Asia. Moore's appointment illustrates RBC's continued growth in the region, and follows RBC Capital Markets' announcement in November 2010 of a new trading floor in Hong Kong, doubling its capacity.
May 26, 2011--As Canada emerges from the economic downturn in growth mode, Canadian finance executives are taking a more aggressive stance when it comes to increasing top-line revenue and seizing investment opportunities the latest American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor reveals. With many companies sitting on large cash surpluses, companies report that they will deploy more resources toward developing new products and services, building new production capacity, and adding headcount in sales - a sharp contrast to the positions of their U.S. counterparts.
May 3, 2011 ---TMX Group Inc. and QuoteMedia, Inc. announced the launch of TSX InfoSuiteTM, a new market data and shareholder solution powered by QuoteMedia, Inc., introduced to enhance the suite of services for Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) listed companies.
March 24, 2011--If time is money, finance executives may have something to worry about, according to a new Robert Half Management Resources survey. Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of chief financial officers interviewed cited time management due to competing priorities as their biggest work challenge. Keeping up with technology and achieving work/life balance garnered 24 per cent and 19 per cent of the response, respectively.
The use of Straight Through Processing (STP) for the efficient transfer of treasury information is being neglected by a significant number of treasurers, according to a survey by IT2 Treasury Solutions.
London, UK-based IT2 Treasury Solutions is a provider of treasury management software to corporate treasuries and financial institutions. The company’s North American clients include Costco Wholesale Corp., Marriot International, Office Depot, and Sara Lee.
March 10, 2011--Although 75 percent of Canadians surveyed say their trust in banks has stayed the same or has increased in the past 12 months, almost 64 percent say they plan to switch banks or have already done so because of service quality issues, says an Ernst & Young report released today.
“Canadian banks came out of the financial crisis relatively unscathed as compared to most of their global counterparts. As a result, banks here have seen the level of trust remain steady or even improve,” says Paul Battista, Financial Services Advisory Leader at Ernst & Young Canada. “But our survey clearly shows that the trust factor isn’t what drives dissatisfaction in Canadians’ banking relationships. It’s the lack of personalized attention and service issues.”
March 10, 2011--New research has shown that many corporate treasurers are uncertain about the relevance and implications of new global accounting standards to their treasury operations.
According to the research, undertaken by IT2 Treasury Solutions, a leading provider of treasury management software to corporate treasuries and financial institutions, just 52% of the responding corporate treasurers reported that they were aware of the content and impact of impending changes in IFRS. In Europe, IFRS 9, the standard for classifying and measuring financial instruments which was released in November 2009, will apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013.
CAMBRIDGE--In the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, which saw many countries and financial institutions collapse under the weight of excessive debt, Canada weathered the storm and emerged as a shining example of fiscal responsibility. But while the balance sheets of the nation’s banks, businesses, and government remain strong, individual Canadians haven’t fared as well. Canadians have accumulated debt at an unprecedented rate: the country’s total household debt is now three times the size of its national debt – more than $1.5 trillion CAD in total.
March 9, 2011--ING DIRECT pushed the national rollout of the THRiVE Chequing Account, an online, no-fee daily chequing account that actually pays interest. THRiVE Chequing enables Canadians to make payments, deposit, withdraw or transfer money for free, all without being nickel and dimed. Building on its history of innovating new financial products for savers, THRiVE Chequing marks a new era for ING DIRECT, as the no-fee daily chequing account and client card makes banking with ING DIRECT a part of Canadians' daily lives. Earlier this week, THRiVE Chequing won a consumers choice award as Product of the Year in the Financial Services category based on innovation.
February 25, 2011--Third-quarter profits at ATB Financial (ATB) rose $30.8 million, or 86.2 per cent, as margins and loan volumes improved and credit losses reduced.
Net income for the quarter ending December 31, 2010 was $66.6 million, compared to $35.8 million during the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income - which excludes a recovery on asset-backed commercial paper - was $58.9 million, an increase of $20.4 million over last year's third quarter.
February 23, 2011--Canada's mining and metals sector is set to heat up in 2011 with increased deal activity, more diverse buyer competition and a continued appetite for projects in frontier markets, according to Ernst & Young.
"Canadian M&A activity has made an incredible rebound with companies reaping the rewards of reinvigorated balance sheets and flushed with cash from high commodity prices - particularly gold and copper," said Tom Whelan, Leader of Ernst & Young's national Mining practice. "In 2010, a third of all global gold deals took place in Canada, with over half of all deals conducted by Canadian companies. The largest of these was Kinross Gold's acquisition of Red Back Mining, valued at US$7.4 billion."
The use of Straight Through Processing (STP) for the efficient transfer of treasury information is being neglected by a significant number of treasurers, according to a survey by IT2 Treasury Solutions.
February 11, 2011--Everlink, a leading provider of Integrated Payment Solutions and Services in the Canadian marketplace, is pleased to announce that Servus Credit Union, the third largest credit union in Canada, has signed an agreement to implement the Everlink Fraud Management solution
February 10, 2011--The need for efficient working capital management, the requirement to secure paper documents, plus advances in scanning technology have all come together to drive the growth of paperless receivables.
February 10, 2011--BNY Mellon subsidiary Eagle Investment Systems has become the latest financial services company to offer derivative pricing analytics to its global clients via a partnership with Surrey, BC-based FINCAD. Eagle will incorporate FINCAD Analytics into its investment management suite, which is used by clients for managing complex investments. Eagle joins the 70 partners who embed FINCAD’s products into their own client offering.
February 10, 2011--Moody's Investors Service expects to publish its operational risk
guidelines for global structured finance transactions by the end of February
2011. This announcement follows the end of the request for comment period on
15 January 2011. The rating agency believes that the new guidelines could
affect the senior ratings of up to 200 transactions worldwide.
February 10, 2011--Reval, the premier provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
solutions for corporate financial risk management, has added 70 new clients
in 2010, generating 63 percent more new contract value than in 2009. As a
result, revenue grew over 43 percent. Demand for more risk management tools
and straight-through processing drove new business.
February 10, 2011--American Express Canada has a new online foreign exchange payment solution for Canadian businesses. American Express FX International Payments (FXIP) allows clients to make foreign currency transactions at competitive rates and with the convenience, security and control of 24/7 online service.
"For many small and medium sized businesses, navigating the volatile and complex global foreign exchange market can be as challenging as learning a foreign language," said Jeff Gladwish, Director, FXIP, American Express Canada. "Our clients have told us they're looking for cost-effective and efficient ways to transact internationally, so we've put over a century of foreign exchange expertise to work in designing a solution that gives our clients the support and tools they need."
January 30, 2011--The wide discount for WTI oil off Brent highlights the commercial risk for
Canada's oil patch of relying largely on one export market - the United
States.
January 25, 2011--Canadian natural resource companies with excess cash to invest have spurred San Francisco, California-based Institutional Cash Distributors (ICD) to expand its distribution and sales operations in Canada.
January 20, 2011--FINCAD, the industry standard for financial analytics, has hired
Andrew Markazi as a Sales Director focussing on large financial
institutions.
January 11, 2011--The 2010 winners of the annual Service Award were released today by DALBAR. Earning the #1 spot in the mutual fund industry is BMO Mutual Funds. This marks five consecutive years of award winning service by BMO Mutual Funds for both its English & French language services. The #1 ranked company in the discount brokerage industry is RBC Direct Investing. This also marks the fourth consecutive year that RBC Direct Investing has earned this award. Honourable mentions go to Franklin Templeton Investments and TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage, both companies finished second in their respective categories.
January 11, 2011--CommunityLend, Canada's only online loan marketplace, today announced the launch of Financeit.ca, its innovative in-house financing platform for Canada's multi-billion dollar home improvement industry. Starting immediately, home improvement businesses will be able to register at www.financeit.ca to provide their customers with immediate loan approvals for purchase financing.
January 6, 2011--Manulife Financial Corporation is announcing significant progress
on its goal of reducing its underlying earnings sensitivity to equity market
and interest rate movements in the fourth quarter of 2010.
January 4, 2011--The 2010 Fincad Corporate Finance Survey has found that 83 percent of corporates are continuing to use derivatives to hedge risk. However, as a result of the financial crisis, more corporate treasuries have taken measures to adjust their risk management strategy with increasingly required checks and balances in place.
January 3, 2011--Despite reports of a strengthening Canadian dollar, new job creation and what's expected to have been a solid Christmas shopping season, almost half of Canadian small business owners report a downturn in business, notes the latest quarterly American Express Small Business Monitor conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion.
January 3, 2011--An in-depth study of billing and collections practices by U.S. insurance companies by Ward Group, a U.S.-based provider of insurance industry benchmarking and research studies, has found a preponderance of paper-based methods.
December 30, 2010--Dovetail, a UK- and U.S.-based provider of payment services hubs, has joined the International Payments Framework Association. The IPFA provides rules, standards, operating procedures and guidelines to improve cross-border payments and the inter-connection of international clearing systems.
December 28, 2010 --Desjardins Financial Group entered into a support agreement with Western Financial Group, the largest insurance and financial services retailer in Western Canada.
Desjardins will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Western Financial at a price of $4.15 per common share in cash for a total transaction value of $443 million.
December 28, 2010--Due to their record cash positions, Canadian companies are poised to increase their M&A activity both domestically and internationally, says the 2010 Canadian Investment Banking Study from U.S.-based consultancy Greenwich Associates.
Canadian corporations’ strong financial position is the result of a booming bond market and the eagerness of banks to provide credit at favourable rates, says Greenwich. Its study is based on interviews with chief financial officers, corporate development officers, and treasurers at large Canadian companies between April and June 2010. In all, 107 executives in debt capital markets and 105 in M&A and equity capital markets were interviewed for the study.
December 23, 2010--Davis + Henderson, Limited Partnership, a wholly-owned business of Davis + Henderson Income Fund is going to acquire substantially all the assets of ASSET Inc.for $76 million payable in cash. The acquisition is expected to close on or about January 18, 2011, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. ASSET is Canada's largest provider of technology based asset recovery and insolvency management solutions to the Canadian financial services industry.
December 21, 2010--Canada’s BMO Financial Group has launched a treasury management platform that helps corporate customers to manage their day-to-day banking needs online from a single point of contact.
The new BMO Online Banking for Business service provides business customers with a single screen or “personal dashboard” to manage all of their global cash management and foreign exchange services online.
December 20, 2010-- Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp has had a commercial branch in Toronto for five years, serving U.S. corporations which do business in Canada as well as Canadian firms wanting to expand in the U.S. In 2011, the bank plans to expand the customer-serving staff at its Toronto office.
“Our focus with our Canadian branch is very targeted,” Jeff Ficke (right), Fifth Third’s director of Treasury Management, tells Canadian Treasurer. “We serve corporations which are doing business on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. The aim is to act as a single financial institution bringing both their U.S. and Canadian operations together. Our Canadian cash management service offerings complement what we offer in the U.S., but obviously differ slightly due to the fact that Canada is a different banking environment to the U.S.”
December 20, 2010--The European Commission (EC), the governing body for the European Union (EU), has announced a set of initiatives to encourage the growth of e-invoicing across Europe. By 2020, the EC hopes that e-invoicing will be the main method by which European businesses issue invoices. It estimates that that moving from paper invoices to e-invoices will generate savings of around (EUR) €240 billion (C$318 billion) over a six-year period.
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December 10, 2010 --PwC's December Capital Markets Flash report highlights 20 reasons why Canada is the place to be from a markets perspective. Despite a backdrop of global macro weakness, Canada's public debt capital has been plentiful and investor demand for equities has been very healthy.
December 10, 2010 --Canada's CFO of the Year™ program welcomes Richard Bird, John Clappison, Cynthia Devine and The Hon. Brian Tobin to the distinguished panel of business leaders from across the country which will review nominations and select Canada's 2011 CFO of the Year Award. This independent selection committee includes the following notable names from the Canadian finance community.
December 8, 2010--A survey has found that two-thirds (68 percent) of corporate treasurers would be willing to change banks in return for better service in the areas of on-boarding, account maintenance and query handling. In July-August 2010, online financial information site Finextra.com and U.S.-based financial IT firm Pegasystems surveyed corporate treasuries and banks worldwide, receiving 61 survey responses from 38 banks, and 37 from corporates, making a total of 98 respondents.
December 1, 2010--DeciZens, a Toronto, Ontario-based financial management outsourcing company, is launching CFO-for-hire services for Canadian small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs). “What we offer is the ability to help convert the fixed cost of the finance function into a variable cost,” DeciZens’ founder Azam Foda CMA, MBA, tells Canadian Treasurer.
Among the outsourcing services provided by DeciZens are treasury management, risk management, including advice on insurance coverage, transaction processing, and working capital management. “We already have some clients using our services,” Mr Foda says.
November 28, 2010--ScoreSharp, a South African credit scoring consultancy, is helping its customers create automated scorecards with the help of technology from Dallas, Texas-based GDS Link. GDS Link’s flagship product, DataView360, creates customized credit scorecards based on information collected from a variety of data providers. These sources range from credit rating agencies to government data sources, public records and in-house information.
November 24, 2010--Ontario’s economy will grow more slowly in 2011 than this year, dragged down by the continuing slump in the U.S., according to a new economic forecast released today by Central 1 Credit Union. The province’s Gross Domestic Product will rise 2.4 per cent in 2011, compared to 3.7 per cent this year, with a slight uptick in 2012 to 2.5 per cent. Looking at the next three years, Central 1 says the auto manufacturing sector will lead Ontario’s growth as it rebounds from deep recession lows.
November 22, 2010 --Davis + Henderson Income Fund and Wipro Technologies, the Global Consulting, System Integration and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited, have formed a strategic alliance for the purpose of enabling value for financial services clients in Canada. Davis + Henderson - a leading provider of technology and technology based services to Canadian financial institutions, and Wipro - an outsourcing industry leader with extensive experience in the banking and insurance industries, will combine forces to offer program management solutions for the Canadian financial services industry via their combined capabilities.
November 22, 2010--With short-term credit expensive and difficult to come by, managing cash and improving working capital has assumed top priority for European finance executives, says a report from CFO Research Services and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The report entitled Working Capital Management in a Post-Recession Environment: The View from Europe, is based on the response of 207 senior finance executives to an online survey.
November 22, 2010--U.S.-based transaction processor First Data is stepping up ACH (automated clearing house) security protection for online business banking users via a link up with ACH risk management firm Laru. First Data currently protects ACH transactions via measures such as multi-factor security and transaction limits, says Cindi Lieblich, Vice President of First Data’s FundsXpress online banking platform. “With rapidly increasing ACH volumes and growing regulation, financial institutions are asking for higher security, and that is why we are working with Laru,” she says.
November 22, 2010--Fundtech Ltd, a NASDAQ-listed developer of transactional banking software, has launched Mobile ACCESSplus, a mobile platform designed specifically for corporate electronic banking. George Ravich, Fundtech’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, tells Canadian Treasurer that the platform currently works with Blackberrry and Apple wireless devices as well as devices running the Android and Microsoft mobile operating systems.
January 11, 2011--The 2010 winners of the annual Service Award were released today by DALBAR. Earning the #1 spot in the mutual fund industry is BMO Mutual Funds. This marks five consecutive years of award winning service by BMO Mutual Funds for both its English & French language services. The #1 ranked company in the discount brokerage industry is RBC Direct Investing. This also marks the fourth consecutive year that RBC Direct Investing has earned this award. Honourable mentions go to Franklin Templeton Investments and TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage, both companies finished second in their respective categories.
Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp has had a commercial branch in Toronto for five years, serving U.S. corporations which do business in Canada as well as Canadian firms wanting to expand in the U.S. In 2011, the bank plans to expand the customer-serving staff at its Toronto office.
