CI Financial is the largest

investment management Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...

firm by assets under management in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, it offers

and

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

services targeted to high net worth

retail investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

, as well as brokerage and trading services to

portfolio managers A portfolio manager (PM) is a professional responsible for making investment decisions and carrying out investment activities on behalf of vested individuals or institutions. Clients invest their money into the PM's investment policy for future gro ...

and

institutional investors An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

. It is considered one of the Big Three

companies in Canada, along with

Mackenzie Investments Mackenzie Investments was founded in 1967 and is one of Canada's largest investment management firms by assets under management. Mackenzie Investments provides investment advisory and related services for retail and institutional clients. With $ ...

an
Fiera Capital
As of April 2021, it has a total of $280.0 billion in assets under management and advisement. It is listed on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

as , the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

as and is also a component of the

S&P/TSX Composite Index The S&P/TSX Composite Index is the benchmark Canadian index, representing roughly 70% of the total market capitalization on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with about 250 companies included in it. The Toronto Stock Exchange is made up of over 1, ...

Divisions

CI Financial operates as a banner for its many operating divisions. *CI Global Asset Management (Formerly CI Investments): The main division of CI, offering mutual funds, ETFs, private pools (private funds), and alternative investments (hedge funds and private equity) *CI Assante Wealth Management:

Wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

services *CI Direct Investing: Online brokerage, wealth management, and financial planning services *CI Investment Services: Broker Dealer that provides brokerage and trading services to portfolio managers, introducing brokers and institutional investors *CI Private Wealth:

Private wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

services targeted to high net worth investors

History

CI Financial was founded in 1965 as Universal Savings Fund Management Limited. It was a small private investment firm until 1994, when it held an IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange as C.I. Fund Management (the C.I. stood for Canadian International). In the next 9 years, it increased in size by 10 times. In 1999, Bill Holland became CEO of the company, a position that he was to hold for more than 10 years. Also in 1999, the company acquired BPI Financial Corp. for $206 million, creating Canada's fifth-largest public mutual fund company. in 2003, CI purchased the Canadian operations of financial firm Assante Corp. for $846 million. As a result of this acquisition, and two others at the same time, CI became the second largest fund management company in Canada. In 2005, CI changed its name to CI Financial, to reflect the diversity of its activities. In 2007, it acquired Rockwater Capital for $250 million. This deal allowed CI to expand into the

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

business. In 2008,

Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number o ...

sold its 37% ownership in CI to

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

for $2.3 billion. Scotiabank made the purchase to strengthen its relatively weak wealth management business. Sun Life had held the stake until before 2003. In 2010, CI acquired Hartford Investments' Canadian operations. In 2014, Scotiabank sold most of its stake in CI, in part due to conflicts with the management of the company. In June 2015, CI achieved $140.4 billion in managing assets surpassing

($136.0 billion) in becoming the largest independent

firm in Canada. In November, CI acquired First Asset Capital Corp., allowing it to expand into offering

exchange-traded funds An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the ...

. In November 2016, CI acquired an 80% stake in an Australian investment firm Grant Samuel Funds Management expanding CI's presence in the Australian and New Zealand markets. In August 2017, CI acquired one of Canada's largest independent investment management firm Sentry Investments for $780 million increasing CI's total assets by 16%. In September, CI acquired BBS Securities Inc., parent company of online brokerage Virtual Brokers, due to its investment in

Fintech Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...

. In October 2019, CI acquired a 49% stake in an Australian global equities firm Redpoint Investment Management further expanding CI in the Australian market. In November, CI acquired the Canadian arm of US exchange-traded fund powerhouse WisdomTree Investments. CI maintained the lineup of Wisdomtree ETFs with no changes to their investment objectives or strategies. In 2020, CI underwent strategic restructuring under leadership of CEO Kurt MacAlpine. The main division of CI was rebranded to CI Global Asset Management with the merger of former main division CI Investments, and CI First Asset Capital. In house boutiques branding under CI Investments were phased out and will operate under CI Global Asset Management. The affected CI Investment boutique brands were Cambridge Global Asset Management, Harbour Advisors, Sentry Investment Management, and Signature Global Asset Management. CI's wealth management division Assante Wealth Management was renamed CI Assante Wealth Management. CI acquired the remaining minority 25% stake in WealthBar allowing the creation of the new division CI Direct Investing. CI Direct Investing was introduced with the merger of WealthBar and Virtual Brokers. CI's broker dealer BBS Securities was renamed CI Investment Services. CI's Stonegate Private Counsel alongside CI's U.S. RIA businesses formed CI Private Wealth.

Major investments

* Grant Samuel Funds Management (80%): Investment firm that offers funds and investment strategies *Marret Asset Management (65%): Investment firm that specializes in fixed income and alternative investment strategies *Redpoint Investment Management (49%): Global equities firm offering active equity funds and infrastructure funds

Mergers and acquisitions

Controversy

In 2004, the

Ontario Securities Commission The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is a regulatory agency which administers and enforces securities legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario. The OSC is an Ontario Crown agency which reports to the Ontario legislature through the Minis ...

(OSC) approved settlement agreements with CI Investments and three other fund companies. As part of the settlement, CI Investments agreed to make a payment of $49.3 million to investors in its mutual funds that were affected by market timing trades carried out by third party investors in certain mutual funds managed by CI Investments. In 2016, CI reached a no-contest settlement with the OSC to pay $156 million to 360,000 investors in its mutual funds. The settlement was due to CI Investments miscalculating the net asset value of certain funds, by not properly accounting for interest earned from 2009 to 2015. CI Investments also paid an $8 million voluntary payment to the commission. This settlement agreement resulted in the largest amount of compensation paid to investors pursuant to a no-contest settlement agreement in Ontario.

References

{{Major asset management companies Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Companies based in Toronto Mutual fund companies of Canada Investment management companies of Canada