The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec posted a return of 4.6% in the first six months of the year, but its executives set the stage Tuesday for more uncertainty in the months ahead.

The Caisse outperformed its benchmark index, which rose 4.3%, according to its mid-year financial results. Over five years, the investment fund’s average return was 7.7%, compared with 6.6% for its benchmark index.

Despite positive returns, president and CEO Charles Emond stressed the environment remains uncertain for investors.

“I would say that there are more downside risks than upside risks,” Emond warned at a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the fund’s mid-year results.

“That calls for caution in this environment.”

The effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies have not yet been fully felt, he said.

Emond said that U.S. tariffs would slow down the U.S. economy while increasing prices. The Federal Reserve could find itself faced with a dilemma between cutting rates to stimulate the economy or raising them to counter inflation.

The first half of the year has not been easy for investors. Trade tensions between the U.S. and its main trading partners have caused turmoil on the stock markets. “April was the seventh most volatile month in history,” said Vincent Delisle, executive vice-president and head of liquid markets.

The Caisse outperformed its benchmark index for equities and fixed income. However, its real estate portfolio continues to lag behind, with a return of 0.1% over six months, compared with 1.2% for the benchmark index. Over five years, the portfolio is flat, with an annual return of 0.3%, slightly below the index at 0.4%. 

The Caisse suffered from its concentration in certain office markets in the United States, where remote working is more common than in Europe.

Emond defended 2025 as a “transition” year.

“We are still seeing employers wanting to bring their employees back,” he said.

“So that’s encouraging. We’re also seeing occupancy rates improving in New York, among other places.”

The Caisse’s net assets grew by $23 billion in the first six months of the year to $496 billion.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity held steady in the second quarter, but the value of dealmaking soared thanks to a handful of mega deals, according to new data from Crosbie & Co. Inc.

There were 611 M&A deals announced in the second quarter, largely unchanged from the 615 transactions reported in the first quarter, the Toronto-based firm said.

Deal volume remains on the weak side amid continued uncertainty driven by erratic U.S. trade policy. Over the past four years, second-quarter deal volume has averaged 781 transactions.

“The quarter opened under the shadow of President Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement. While many proposed measures have been delayed or revised, ongoing policy shifts continue to create uncertainty for companies,” Crosbie noted in its report. “Still, strategic and high-quality assets remain in demand, and where the rationale is strong, deals are getting done.”

While the number of transactions remains relatively low, the value of deals in the second quarter rose sharply to $114 billion, up 82% from the prior quarter — driven by a handful of deals valued at more than $10 billion.

There were 21 so-called mega deals (valued at over $1 billion) worth a combined $97 billion in the second quarter, including three deals exceeding $10 billion. The largest was Sunoco’s $14.3-billion acquisition of Parkland Corp. to create the largest fuel distributor in North America.

“In the face of uncertainty resulting from the U.S. trade war, the M&A markets are exhibiting some green shoots with many large deals being announced,” said Richard Betsalel, managing director at Crosbie & Co., in a release.

“This uptick in mega-deal M&A activity should eventually trickle down to the broader market as the backlog of companies looking to transact continues to grow. In addition, market fundamentals in many sectors remain supportive, financing markets are open and many strategic and financial buyers continue to actively search for new M&A opportunities,” he added.

In the second quarter, mid-market transactions (valued under $250 million) accounted for 85% of total deal activity.

The industrials sector led in deal volume with more than 100 transactions, followed by the tech and mining sectors with 83 deals each. Deal activity also rose in the precious metals, materials and industrials sectors.

By deal value, the energy sector was the top driver of activity, with $43.9 billion in second-quarter M&A. The tech sector was a distant second with $18.4 billion in deals.

“Looking forward, M&A is expected to be used to help manage risk and tariff exposure,” Crosbie said. “Acquisitions can help secure supply chains and provide flexibility under fluid and evolving trade rules.”

Scotiabank has partnered with credit analytics company Nova Credit to let newcomers use their international credit history to apply for credit cards with higher limits in Canada, the bank announced Tuesday.

The program, Credit Passport, is for those who have been in Canada for less than five years and works with select countries. Scotiabank first partnered with Nova Credit in 2023 and says it is the first Canadian bank to embed this process directly into its online credit card application process.

The Credit Passport integration reduces the number of times newcomers need to visit a bank branch.

“We understand that building a new life in a new country comes with challenges,” said Kingsley Chak, senior vice-president of retail client value, deposits and investments at Scotiabank. “Scotiabank is helping remove some of those hurdles, empowering newcomers to begin their financial journey in Canada with confidence.”

Separately, a TD survey showed that 79% of newcomers who have spent five years or less in Canada and applied for credit said it’s difficult to start building a credit history in this country.

Over nine-tenths (92%) of respondents said they applied for credit cards, followed by car loans (18%) and mortgages (13%).

The newcomers surveyed said their lack of access to credit led to higher interest rates (27%), difficulty securing housing (27%) and the inability to save or invest for future goals (24%), among other concerns.

“With many new Canadians experiencing stress and anxiety, loan access restrictions or difficulty achieving their unique financial goals, the need for tailored solutions is evident,” said Muhammad Kara, associate vice-president of new to Canada and everyday advice journey at TD.

ATB Financial has signed a deal to acquire Cormark Securities Inc., an independent investment bank with offices in Toronto and Calgary.

ATB did not disclose the deal’s financial details.

Cormark provides investment banking, equity research coverage and institutional sales and trading to clients in Canada and internationally.

“The partnership will allow us to significantly increase our broker-dealer scale, enhance our multiproduct coverage (including investment banking, corporate banking, equities, equity research and fixed income, currencies and commodities) and establish a stronger presence across Canada and the U.S. to drive more deals and attract top talent,” Curtis Stange, president and CEO of ATB Financial said in an email.

Cormark will be fully integrated into the ATB Capital Markets, Stange said. Under the deal, ATB Capital Markets and Cormark will integrate their operations under ATB Capital Markets’ CEO Darren Eurich. Cormark’s teams and systems will be integrated into ATB’s existing technology, policies and operations.

Cormark executive chairman Scott Lamacraft will be executive chair, while Cormark chief executive Susan Streeter will become head of strategy and growth.

The companies said the acquisition is expected to close in the fall pending customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Investment banking advisory Fort Capital Partners is acquiring Acquatio, an advisor that specializes in M&A dealmaking in the wealth management industry. The new company will advise wealth and asset management firms, according to a release shared first with Advisor.ca.

“The launch of Fort Capital FS reflects our belief that independent firms deserve independent advice,” said Dave Bustos, founder of Fort Capital Partners, in a release. “We’re thrilled to welcome the Acquatio team to Fort Capital and to expand our platform with professionals who share our values.”

Joe Millott, Acquatio founder and principal, told us in an email interview that the two firms “share a view of where the industry is heading. This is a pivotal time in wealth management, and we want to help clients navigate it with an approach that’s highly tailored and truly independent,” he said.

“Fort Capital has built a strong national presence, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto,” Millott said. “Their team includes experienced partners and execution professionals across the country. That footprint will help support the deal flow we’re already seeing, and it gives us more reach to handle what’s coming.”

Millott is joining Fort Capital as a partner. Ben Ewasko has accepted a vice-president role.

The new firm’s value proposition leans heavily on independence.

“In Canada, the large banks dominate wealth management through their brokerages and investment counselling arms,” said Millott. “For independent firms trying to win market share from those incumbents, hiring a bank-owned advisor introduces a built-in conflict. You’re asking someone to help you grow at the expense of their own parent company.”

BMO Wealth Management’s purchase of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd., announced in June, is a case in point. Independents KMS Capital, Origin Merchant Partners and PJT Partners advised Burgundy on the transaction, according to BMO Capital Markets.

Deal volumes to pick up

M&A activity was expected to pop this year, as a result of the post-Covid drop in interest rates and pent-up demand — particularly in the wealth management sector. Despite a couple of headline announcements, 2025 has not met expectations so far.

Millott said the market is heating up though, particularly in the $500 million to $5 billion valuation segment.

“We’re already seeing it,” he said. “Many firm owners are realizing that internal succession isn’t realistic. That’s pushing more of them to start preparing for a sale. At the same time, private equity-backed groups are aggressively looking for opportunities and international buyers are paying close attention to Canada. All of that points to a strong back half of 2025, and even more activity in 2026.”

Vancouver-based Fort Capital was founded in 2014. Acquatio is headquartered in Toronto, and was founded in 2023.

The thing we’re told most often about alternative investments is the importance of due diligence. The complexity of these products is such that advisors put themselves and their clients in a vulnerable position if they make poorly researched recommendations.

This is somewhat counterintuitive, given the value many of these products offer from a risk management perspective. But their complexity — and in some cases their lack of transparency — makes them a poor fit for many investors.

Advisors know that alt bets can go sideways, just like traditional assets. What’s important to know is what that looks like on a product-by-product basis. Because they often don’t behave like traditional assets when they do.

So, pay attention to the contrarians. They’re worth hearing out.

A hat tip to our friend Ken Kivenko, president and CEO of Kenmar Associates and an important investor advocate, for introducing me to the work of U.S. economist Eileen Applebaum. She is co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank. Since 2010, Applebaum has focused on private equity’s part in the financialization of the global economy — specifically, the sector’s restructuring of companies for profit.

Applebaum coauthored Private Equity at Work: When Wall Street Manages Main Street with Rosemary Batt, Alice Hanson Cook Professor of Women and Work at the ILR School at Cornell University.

When we spoke earlier this month, Applebaum made it clear she’s not anti-private equity.

“We have never been against private equity as an asset class,” she said. “We just want them to do what they say they do.”

Which is to say, buy companies and make them better.

“There are plenty of examples where private equity comes in and improves things,” Applebaum told me. “They buy these small companies and they modernize them really quickly.”

They bring in finance, marketing and other experts. Board members are added, efficiencies found. But too often, Applebaum says there’s a tension between what’s best for the company and what’s in the best interest of the private equity firm.

“Private equity always has an extra plan,” she said. “They have a strategic buyer in mind that they hope to sell to. They have to improve the company — make it more profitable and get it big enough to be of interest to a larger company.”

Sometimes that means loading the company with debt. Particularly, Applebaum said, when the large private equity firms are involved.

“The concern about private equity, when you have those big companies come in, is that they load the company they bought with debt,” Applebaum said. “They charge them a monitoring fee. ‘I’m going to look at everything you do, and you’re going to pay me millions of dollars a year to do that.’”

Those fees can satisfy the private equity firm’s financial interest regardless of whether or not the purchased company achieves greater success or attracts a buyer.

“They say that they’ve come in, they’re going to restructure the company,” Applebaum said. “They’re going to make it much better. And that is not what they do. What they do is figure out how they can enrich themselves.”

It’s a sweeping critique — but not without truth, when it comes to bad actors in the sector.

Not all private equity shops are alike, of course. And no-one is suggesting you abandon private equity any more than you would a traditional asset class.

Consider this a caution flag, and another reminder on the value of due diligence.

Each week, we summarize notable moves across the financial industry.

• Marcia Moffat, country head of BlackRock Canada since 2015, will step down next year and remain a senior adviser during the transition. Under her leadership, BlackRock launched the RBC iShares alliance in 2019, making it the country’s top provider of exchange-traded funds with 27% market share as of July 31. Moffat previously served as head of home equity financing at RBC and was a board member at Manulife Bank of Canada.
• Dario Morrone has joined CIBC Global Asset Management as vice-president, institutional business development. Reporting to Carlo DiLalla, Morrone will lead sales and business development across Quebec and eastern Canada, focusing on institutional investors, consultants and stakeholders, including pension plans, foundations, insurers and family offices. He was most recently principal and senior investment consultant at Mercer, advising on asset allocation, de-risking and portfolio structure.
• June Chua has been appointed head of Asian equities at Manulife Investment Management, effective Aug. 4, 2025. Based in Hong Kong, Chua will lead one of the region’s largest equity teams — more than 90 investment professionals across 10 markets — and oversee investment processes in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. She will also serve as head of Asian equity research.
• Amish Lakhani has been named vice-president, enterprise strategy, planning and analysis at IGM Financial Inc. Lakhani, a CPA and CA, was previously vice-president, wealth and asset management finance. He has more than 15 years of experience in financial leadership roles.
• Kenrick Hancox, former CEO of the New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission, and Pam McDonald, director of communications and education at the British Columbia Securities Commission, have been appointed to the inaugural board of the NASAA Investor Protection and Education Foundation. The nine-member board will guide the foundation’s mission to promote investor protection and education across North America.

If you know of other people moves in the financial industry and/or would like us to consider your announcement, email Alisha Hiyate at alisha.h@newcom.ca.

Sun Life Financial Inc. says its second-quarter profit was up 11% from last year.

The Toronto-based insurer says it earned $716 million in its second quarter, up from $646 million a year prior.

Earnings for the period ended June 30 worked out to $1.26 per share, up from $1.11 a year ago.

The company attributed some of the increase to growth in Asia but says it was offset by an impairment charge of $61 million related to the early termination of a U.S. group dental contract.

The insurer’s Canadian segment’s underlying net income of $379 million fell 6% from the same quarter a year prior. This was mainly attributed to lower investment contributions in asset management and wealth, and an unfavourable mortality experience in individual protection.

In Canadian group health and protection, Sun Life had a favourable mortality experience, partially offset by less favourable morbidity experience in disability.

Asset management gross flows and wealth sales in Canada of $5 billion were down 13% year over year from lower defined benefit group sales in group retirement services, as there was a $1.2 billion transaction last year. Group health and protection sales in the country were up 41% to $201 million, driven by large case sales. Individual protection sales were down 19% to $136 million from lower third-party sales.

Global asset management underlying net income of $300 million fell 2%. MFS Investment Management experienced lower fee income from lower adjusted net assets. On the other side, Sun Life Capital Management had higher fee-related earnings offset by lower net seed investment income.

Asset management assets under management (AUM) of $1.1 trillion decreased $7.1 billion from December 31, 2024, driven by net outflows of $24.4 billion and client distributions of $3.4 billion, partially offset by net asset value gains of $20.7 billion.

In total, Sun Life had $1.54 trillion in AUM as of June 30, 2025, up 5% compared to the same time last year.

The result was far below the $1.80 per share expected by analysts, according to LSEG Data & Analytics. Its underlying earnings per share were $1.79, compared with $1.72 a year prior.

The results are in for FP Canada’s June sitting of the certified financial planner (CFP) and qualified associate financial planner (QAFP) exams.

The CFP exam was written by 385 candidates and 81% of first-time writers passed, a release said. The previous exam in February had 280 CFP candidates and a pass rate of 71% for first-timers.

In June, another 50 candidates wrote the QAFP exam, with a pass rate of 75% for first-timers.

A post-exam survey from FP Canada found that 49% of CFP candidates and 48% of QAFP candidates were motivated to write the exam because of title protection legislation. Also, 30% and 24%, respectively, said they wrote the exam because the certification was required by their employers.

Canada had about 17,500 CFP professionals and about 1,200 QAFP professionals as of last Dec. 31, according to FP Canada’s website.

The chief investment officer of Harbourfront Wealth Management says there have been countless times when people assumed she was in a lower rank in the finance industry simply because of her gender.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve walked into a room and people assume I’m a salesperson,” Theresa Shutt said, speaking during an inaugural panel entitled “Women Exploring Wealth,” held in Toronto on Wednesday.

“And then when I say, ‘Hey, I’m the CIO,’ one guy actually said to me, ‘Good for you.’ I thought he was gonna pat me on the head. It was so insulting.”

With few women climbing corporate ladders at financial institutions and women making up just 15%–20% of total financial advisors in North America, it’s not uncommon for people to hold these types of assumptions. To counter these stereotypes and the gender divide in the finance industry, Shutt and her fellow panellists spoke about the importance of unconscious bias training at financial institutions.

“The unconscious bias [training] is far more important than some of these other programs [for women], because there’s a lot of … men that think they’re feminists and they’re fundamentally not,” Shutt said.

Leila Fiouzi, senior investment counsellor with RBC Phillips, Hager & North Investment Counsel Inc., said her financial institution started unconscious bias training years ago and that it’s helped shine a light on the biases that seep into hiring practices.

“It is interesting how often you see people hire in their own image,” she said. “If a particular industry is predominantly in one image, you’re just going to continue to see them hire in their own image.”

Fiouzi added that merit is often overlooked due to unconscious bias.

“So if you have two candidates that are equally good, are you going to hire a person that looks kind of like you and maybe has the same socioeconomic background, or is a member at the same golf club?” she said.

“Or are you going to hire this person who is equally as good, but just has a really different background, and maybe that background will actually bring something new to your business?”

Kelli Costigan, senior portfolio manager with MD Private Investment Counsel, said she’s seen her share of unconscious bias working in finance.

But Costigan said she would still urge women to seek out programs meant to empower women in the industry, and where those programs don’t exist, to start them.

“Get a group of five people together and start and meet. Go for coffee, go for lunch and start to talk to each other, and then build and build and build,” she said.

Advice for women

The panellists offered additional advice to young women in the industry.

For one, Costigan said it pays off to be an optimist and to surround yourself with supportive people.

She recalled a time when she was in her 20s and asked her manager at the time, who was woman, for help, only to be told, “If you can’t find that, you’re not going to make it.”

From that day forward, Costigan said she promised herself to be a mentor to those around her and “to never make a woman — or anybody — feel that way.”

“It’s important for you to surround yourself with people who really care about you and want you to be successful,” she added.

Fiouzi encouraged women to stop aiming for perfection at work because it will set them back while their male counterparts will likely have moved on to another project, made a new connection or achieved a new milestone.

“As women, I don’t know if it’s nature or society, but to generalize, I think we try to be perfectionists. We try to be people pleasers,” she said.

“I’m not saying do a bad job, but I would say maybe look around you and notice that the other 50% is not aiming for 100%.”

In a similar vein, Oricia Smith, president of Sun Life Global Investments, encouraged women to ask for help when they need it.

Smith noted that Sun Life did some research and found that male advisors tend to build teams to support them and typically become successful much faster than women advisors, who tend to try to do everything on their own.

“It is not a weakness to ask for help. It’s not a weakness to pull a bunch of people around you to help you get something done. That’s actually a strength and that’s leadership,” she said.

Smith also recommended fostering connections in the industry and to not take anything personally when things don’t work out the way you’d hoped.

One of Shutt’s tips was to be vocal, especially in boardrooms.

“What you find is in a boardroom, women talk probably 70% less than men. We think we talk as much as 50% — we do not. So, speak loud, speak often, claim your successes,” she said.

“Yes, you got to be a team member or whatever. But know that you’re continually building your profile. You’re always building your reputation.”

Sarah Bull, managing partner and portfolio manager with KJ Harrison Investors, who moderated the panel, also reminded women that there’s a lot of opportunity for them to break into the finance industry, and in wealth management in particular, which is expected to see women manage more than $4 trillion of wealth in Canada by 2028.

“When I reflect on my own career, I started in the industry in the early ‘90s, in 1994, and it’s clear that we’ve come a long way since then,” she said.

Shutt also expressed optimism about the progress that’s been made over the past few decades and the work that’s being done now.

“There’s tons of stories about things that I think were demoralizing at the time, and I still think we haven’t changed it, but you know, at least we’re talking about it.”