Industry News

Returns follow the risks

In half a century, nothing much has changed in asset allocation, except for one thing: risk. Modern asset allocation began with the mean-variance model pioneered by Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz in the 1950s, which illustrates how diversification across relatively uncorrelated assets smoothes returns. Given a set of assets with known co-variances, one can construct an […]

By Scot Blythe |June 28, 2010

4 min read

The IIROC enforcers

Last year was a busy one for securities regulators. As the credit market – and subsequently the economy – collapsed, they faced public pressure to take aggressive action against risky investments and Ponzi-like schemes that left many investors holding the bag. In Canada, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) bore the same pressures […]

By David Di Paolo, Cait Sainsbury |June 28, 2010

7 min read

Ghosts of the TFSA exorcized

It seems they will beat the Tax Free Savings Account bum rap after all. The Government of Canada all but announced on Friday an amnesty on TFSA overcontribution penalties for 2009. This comes as a relief to some 70,000 TFSA holders who inadvertently fell foul of the tax law. A statement issued by Keith Ashfield, […]

By Vikram Barhat |June 28, 2010

4 min read

Face-Off: Is leverage worth the risk?

Moderated by: Vikram Barhat Participants: Blair Falconer, vice-president, HSBC securities, Toronto. Serge G. Pepin, head of investments, BMO Investments Inc. Falconer: The biggest pitfall of leveraging is it magnifies losses. I mean, it magnifies gains as well, but it becomes your biggest risk when your investment strategy turns against you and then all of a […]

By Vikram Barhat |June 26, 2010

9 min read