CSI Blog & Newsroom

 “It may seem like unsurprising advice, but it’s causing waves in the world of corporate banking,” Janet McFarland wrote for a The Globe and Mail article late last week. McFarland continued, “Deutsche Bank senior executive Colin Fan, a Canadian based in London, has become an Internet sensation with a blunt internal staff video telling his traders and investment bankers not to be ‘boastful, indiscreet and vulgar’ and warning that he has ‘lost patience’ with their communications style.” You can view the viral video above. It reminds us at CSI of another Canadian with a strong moral compass.  Markham, Ontario resident Brad Katsuyama made a discovery while working in RBC’s Manhattan offices in 2007.  He noticed, “how some high-frequency trading firms game the stock-market system to skim profits in a fraction of the time it would take to blink an eye, and how his software could get around this,” Armina Ligaya wrote in a March Financial Post article.

“Bank of England governor Mark Carney says the British economy has begun heading back to normal but interest rates may remain low ‘for some time,'” a CBC news article wrote earlier in the week. The article continued, “The U.K. central bank released a report on the economy that shows an improved outlook for unemployment and inflation and remaining optimism on GDP growth, compared to earlier this year. The bank believes the British economy will grow 3.4 per cent this year and has upgraded its forecast for next year to 2.9 per cent. The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in five years – 6.8 per cent – but Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada, noted there is still ‘slack’ in the labour market, including 1.4 million people working part-time.” Read the full article here.

“A wave of Canadian filmmakers — both established and emerging — descend on the Cannes Film Festival today as the annual cinematic celebration on the French Riviera gets underway for 2014,” a CBC news article wrote yesterday. The article continued, “A record three Canadians — stalwarts David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan as well as recent favourite Xavier Dolan — are unveiling their latest in official competition. Among the 18 films vying for the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or are Cronenberg’s Hollywood tale Maps to the Stars, Egoyan’s kidnap drama The Captive and Dolan’s mother-son story Mommy.”

Read the full CBC article here.

The new book The Confidence Code co-authored by English journalist Katty Kay and American television journalist and Good Morning America correspondence Claire Shipman, explores the nature of confidence, specifically in women. Kay and Shipman sat down with fellow journalist Charlie Rose on his PBS talk show to discuss their findings and talk about their personal experience with confidence. You can watch the interview here.

As the CSI blog reported last week over 100 Advocis members from across the province met with a record 60 MPPs to garner support for Ontario Private Members Bill 157, Financial Advisors Act, 2014. We are proud to post an artilcle from the Advocis website that highligted the event. The article reads in part, “The most important result of the day was that all MPPs continue to support the direction of Bill 157. Despite there being a spring election, MPPs encouraged Advocis to bring the bill back as they believe it is an important step towards establishing higher standards for financial advisors and appropriately protecting consumers.” View the full article here.  

(L-R) Al Jones PAC, Richard Borland, MPP Jim Wilson, Advocis Simcoe-Muskoka Chapter President Raymond Matt, Gary Laakso and Advocacy Chair Erika Conyette pose for a picture during their visit to Queen’s Park on April 29, 2014.

It was a successful day for Advocis’ Simcoe-Muskoka Chapter during their visit to Ontario’s legislative assembly Queen’s Park for the 9th annual Queen’s Park Day.  More than 100 members of the nearly 100-year-old professional association were present to meet with MPP’s to discuss issues of importance to Canadian consumers of financial services. One such issue being encouraged by Advocis Simcoe-Muskoka Chapter President Raymond Matt is Bill 157, an Act to regulate financial advisors.  Currently in Canada anyone, regardless of education or experience, can call themselves a financial advisor.  Advocis wants to change this by raising the professional bar. This would mean all individuals that call themselves financial advisors must be registered as such, bound by a code of professional conduct, carry adequate errors and omissions insurance, be a member of a professional association and complete minimum continued education requirements. Advocis is pleased to say they have strong support for Bill 157, it has passed second reading and is now in committee. Information on Bill 157 is available at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s website here.