The value of Canadian pension plans suffered the largest quarterly decline in a decade as the credit crisis caused equity markets around the world to drop. RBC Dexia Investor Services says the value of plans tumbled 8.6% during the third quarter of 2008. “Year-to-date, Canadian pensions are down 10.1%,” says Don McDougall, RBC Dexia’s director […]
The United States Treasury Department plans to use US$250 billion of the $700 billion financial rescue plan to inject capital into banks by purchasing preferred shares. Nine large financial institutions have already agreed to participate in the program. Although they weren’t named, it’s expected that Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman […]
Manulife Financial expects to take a charge of about $250 million in the third quarter due to credit losses. That includes approximately $50 million due to reserve strengthening as a result of credit downgrades. Despite these charges, the insurance company says asset quality remains very high. “Due to generalized spread widening, the gross unrealized losses […]
The Government of Canada plans to maintain the availability of longer-term credit by purchasing up to $25 billion in insured mortgage pools through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). It hopes this action will help financial institutions raise longer-term funds and make them available to consumers, homebuyers and businesses in Canada. “It is important […]
Canadian pension plans experienced a rough third quarter as a result of market volatility and the credit crisis. Mercer’s passive portfolio, representing the typical Canadian balanced portfolio of investments, returned -7.9% during Q3. This was the worst quarter in exactly 10 years for the typical balanced fund. The passive portfolio produced a return of -9.1% […]
A number of central banks around the world have cut interest rates in a coordinated effort to try and prevent the global credit crisis from getting worse. The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the United States Federal Reserve, Sweden’s Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank all cut interest […]
Sun Life is selling its stake in CI Financial to Scotiabank for $2.3 billion in cash. “Unlocking CI’s value now provides Sun Life with enhanced firepower to aggressively pursue our growth objectives,” says Sun Life’s chief executive officer, Donald Stewart. Following the completion of the purchase of the 37% interest from Sun Life, Scotiabank will […]
Shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the revised US$700 billion bailout package on its second try, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on Friday afternoon. Earlier Friday, the House voted 263-171 in favour of the package while the Senate voted 74-25 in favour of the bill earlier this week. […]
Wells Fargo has struck a deal to buy all of Wachovia for US$15.1 billion, topping an offer by Citigroup to buy just Wachovia’s banking operations. Wells Fargo says the transaction does not require financial assistance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. On Monday, Citigroup announced it would buy Wachovia’s […]
Despite the fact that the United States House of Representatives voted against the proposed economic bailout package, the Senate and U.S. President George W. Bush aren’t giving up just yet. On Wednesday evening, the Senate will vote on a new version of the legislation, which will likely include a provision to boost federal deposit insurance […]