Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,
Pension funds: The Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which is primarily run out of Montreal and is better known as PSP Investments, has brought on Eduard van Gelderen as its CIO, luring him away from the office of the CIO of the University of California. Mr. Van Gelderen joins PSP a few months after the pension fund named a new chief executive officer. PSP has $153-billion in assets under management. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Big banks: Canada’s housing market is something of a national obsession. It’s understandable. It’s also misguided when it comes to Canada’s banks. It’s all very well for renters to dither about jumping in, or homeowners to fret about what their place will be worth after their kitchen reno. But along with being a tad tedious, all this talk is distracting investors from fundamental improvements in the fortunes of the big banks. Opinion (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Fintech: Richard Cochrane thinks he has the solution for a problem that has plagued First Nations online shoppers since the start of the digital age. That solution is his fintech startup, Status Exempt. The 29-year-old entrepreneur has developed a service and plugin for Shopify Inc.’s e-commerce platform that allows First Nations people to shop online without being charged the harmonized sales tax (HST), provincial sales tax or goods-and-services tax. Story (Darren Campbell)
Aimia saga: Facing some backlash for his aggressive takeover bid, Calin Rovinescu wanted to point some fingers. On a conference call Friday, Air Canada’s chief executive officer blamed “numerous analysts and media reports” for some confusion about his airline’s attempt to buy the Aeroplan loyalty rewards program. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Obituary: Grant Reuber, who died in Toronto on July 7 at the age of 90, was a leading Canadian economist with a career trajectory that saw him become a leader in academia, business and the public service. He built the economics department at the University of Western Ontario, was briefly Deputy Minister of Finance in the short-lived government of prime minister Joe Clark and as a banker rose to become president and chief operating officer at the Bank of Montreal. Story
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