Eighteen months ago, Laurie Stephenson started the part of her career she always dreamed about: She entered a partnership to start her own firm. As a veteran of the financial services industry — she began her career in 1989 as a manager in the Toronto office of a major insurer — Stephenson wanted to create a business that allowed balance. Now, as one half of Stephenson Daigle Financial, she is... 

Somewhere in the glass towers of law offices, security regulators and dealer boardrooms, legal experts, compliance officers and owner-dealers are hammering out the details of how registration reform, scheduled to take effect on March 30, 2009, will impact their businesses. Laurie Cook’s advice is simple: “Buy t-shirts and create teams.” As a partner at the Toronto offices of Borden Ladner Gervais... 

Less than a month after the release of presumably clearer, more concise critical illness definitions, the industry is providing feedback — and it’s not all positive. Since its launch about a decade ago, critical illness (CI) insurance promised Canadians a lump sum if they were stricken with a life-threatening medical problem, such as cancer or a stroke. While sales were brisk at first, they starting... 

The Ontario Securities Commission’s innocuously named Staff Notice 51-716 has drawn quite a bit of attention for its no-nonsense stance on environmental financial disclosure. According to various industry professionals, including Paul Cassidy, from Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP’s Vancouver office, and Gray Taylor, from Toronto-based Bennett Jones LLP, the notice signals a shift in the mindset...