A look back at our week’s top stories and analysis
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The week started with Canada Pension Plan announcing it had agreed to buy renewable power producer Pattern Energy Group for a whopping $8.02billion. We got a little deeper into the saga of ex-McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, who admitted the relationship that cost him his job was a “mistake.” Sean Coakley, market strategist at Cambridge Global Payments, got on the phone with WP to explain why advisors ought to preserve capital after last week’s decisions by the fed to cut rates and the Bank of Canada to hold steady.
Tuesday
Tuesday’s lead story saw three Canadian banks fined a combined $1.5million for an admin error made after 10pm on a Monday. We also spoke to a seasoned cryptocurrency investor who’s taken a recent dive into the other “new kid on the block”: cannabis. His view is that pot is getting overhyped and cannabis stocks might start to drag on your portfolio. John Natale of Manulife Investment defined the challenges blended families present, and talked about his webinar preparing advisors for the single largest wealth transfer in history.
Wednesday
We covered the closure of Planswell, an ambitious online planner that’s been mired in a sexual harassment scandal. Investor confidence collapsed after the scandal, and the start-up’s rapid-growth cash burn-rate couldn’t handle the stress. It was bad news for another start-up, too, when GFL Environmental cancelled what it had promised would be Canada’s biggest IPO. Crypto-fund manager, 3iQ was celebrating last week after the OSC approved their “Bitcoin Fund.” On Wednesday we dove into the new product and found what value it might bring to investors.
Thursday
We talked with the CEO of the NEO Exchange about how it continues to deliver on its promise to create an equitable investment platform. We got some deeper insights into advising ultra high net worth clients through an interview with BMO’s Neil Hershcovitch who insisted that those clients need a cushion in their debt-management plan. CI Financial announced that it will acquire WisdomTree’s nearly $1bn AUM, cementing CI’s place as the 5th largest ETF provider in Canada by AUM.
Friday
Planswell CEO Eric Arnold bared his soul to WP after his company’s ignominious collapse. He ranged widely about the impact of the harassment allegations against his former head of marketing, to the lessons learned from the start-up’s demise. We learned of CIBC’s decision to sell a large portion of its investment in CIBC FirstCaribbean to GNB Financial Group Ltd. for $1.05billion. News from the CPP ended the week as they announced they’d be divesting from two US private prison companies because of their reputational risk.
