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Nov 24 (Reuters) - Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) will outsource its property operations in Canada to focus on its entrepreneurial investment management unit, Canada's biggest life insurer said Thursday. The change to a new structure will result in Manulife Investment Management, which overseas the real estate portfolio, shedding 50 jobs, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Among other financial services companies, Canada's biggest lender, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) have recently cut jobs in the United States. Manulife Investment Management's real estate arm uses a pool of capital to invest in real estate in 29 cities across the United States, Asia and Canada. According to its annual report, the insurer had about C$13.2 billion ($9.90 billion) worth of real estate investments in 2021.

A federal jury in 2009 had found the businessman, Thomas Petters, guilty of orchestrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Those sums became unavailable for repayment to creditors when the fraud was uncovered in 2008, a trustee said in a lawsuit. The jury found the count against the bank which had alleged that the bank's unit "substantially assisted or encouraged" the businessman Petters to commit the breach. As part of the provision, Bank of Montreal said it would book an after-tax charge of C$830 million during the fourth quarter. ($1 = 1.3426 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

TORONTO, Nov 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The U.S. cannabis industry would do well to heed the lessons of Canada’s growing pains. Even as the United States becomes more pot-friendly, however, there’s no guarantee that financial success will follow. Approved cannabis growers destroyed a record quantity of unsold buds last year, the Financial Post reported. Fewer available licenses in the United States also mean barriers to entry are higher. The Canadian government on Sept. 22 announced the launch of the legislative review of the Cannabis Act, which came into force on Oct. 17, 2018.

☆ HSBC's Canada unit loses National Bank, CIBC as bidders, Global and Mail reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HSBC disclosed on Oct. 4 that it was considering selling HSBC Bank Canada, a unit that analysts estimate to be valued around C$8 billion ($5.88 billion) to C$10 billion ($7.35 billion). The Globe and Mail, in its report on Friday, quoted sources familiar with the process as saying that the field of contenders to acquire HSBC Bank Canada from the British lender was narrowing. HSBC Bank Canada includes four divisions covering HSBC's commercial banking, personal banking, investment banking and markets services business in the country. National Bank of Canada declined to comment on the Global and Mail report. HSBC, CIBC and BMO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Money managers such as Janus Henderson Group (JHG.N) and investment firms including Blue Owl Capital Inc (OWL.N) are weighing potential offers for Credit Suisse Group AG's (CSGN.S) U.S. asset management unit, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. read moreJanus and rival asset manager AllianceBernstein Holding (AB.N), and Blue Owl as well as private equity firms Centerbridge Partners and Clearlake Capital are considering bids, the sources said. Credit Suisse, Blue Owl, Clearlake, Invesco and Janus Henderson declined to comment. Janus Henderson emerged in 2017 from the combination of Janus Capital Group and Henderson Group, and Blue Owl was formed last year from the three-way merging of Owl Rock Capital Group, Dyal Capital Partners and a blank check firm. Meanwhile, both Ameriprise and Invesco have been active buyers of asset managers in recent years.

☆ European countries are shelling out huge sums to deal with the energy crunch. Economists fear it could spark a new financial crisis.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A new debt crisis could be looming as European countries throw huge sums of money at the energy crisis. Already, the energy crisis is estimated to have cost Europe around 700 billion euros. Combined with a high debt load, that spells trouble, Boskin says, because debt itself is also inflationary. Additional spending and debt from the energy crisis could result in more stress being exerted on the financial system. "I think a debt crisis could very likely ensue given the vast amounts that [are] being spent as a percentage of GDP.

☆ Credit Suisse places U.S. asset management arm for sale - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) recently launched a process that could see its U.S. asset management arm sold, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, as the troubled Swiss bank seeks to reshape its business after multiple scandals. The source added there was no guarantee of a sale and Credit Suisse could ultimately retain the business. read moreGlobally, Credit Suisse's asset management business managed around $447 billion and had almost 1,200 employees, as of June 30, according to the bank's website. It offers both traditional products, such as mutual funds, as well as alternative investments including real estate and private equity. A number of banks have divested U.S. asset management units in recent years, due to intense competition from large managers and a squeeze on fees from the shift to passive investing.

☆ I’ve been following a woman around the internet. Turns out she was created by artificial intelligence.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Evan Ratliff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Even in their first efforts, the GAN images were quickly on par with those made by any other, less intelligent software. You can find the results on the Generated Photos site, where you can filter by ethnicity, age, sex, eye color, and other attributes. Generated Photos' GANs tend to match conventional beauty standards, a product of the models that have been fed to the software. I'm not sure anyone would be surprised to find fake images accompanying testimonials on an Estonian bitcoin exchange or an online CBD seller. Are they real people deploying fake images, or fake people deploying fake images?

☆ Wall Street shops get dinged for nearly $2 billion in penalties for failing to police bankers' use of Whatsapp
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some of the world's largest banks from Goldman Sachs to Morgan Stanley will cough up nearly $2 billion in penalties to the US regulators for failing to sufficiently monitor their employees' use of unauthorized messaging apps. At the heart of the matter here are bankers' use of communications platforms like Whatsapp or Signal. These are encrypted messaging apps that bankers regularly use to communicate with clients and even journalists. The largest US banks, boutiques, and European lenders were caught up in a probe around the use of unauthorized messaging apps. Whatsapp, for example, is a popular messaging app with bankers dealing with clients based outside the US.

☆ Justin Trudeau Fast Facts
▼ + stars: | 2015-11-03 | by ( Cnn Editorial Research | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Here’s a look at the life of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. While campaigning for prime minister, Trudeau endorsed the legalization of marijuana. TimelineApril 1972 - During a state visit with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, US President Richard Nixon makes a prediction: “Tonight, we’ll dispense with the formalities,” Nixon says. “I’d like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau.”1998 - Trudeau’s brother, Michel Trudeau, is killed in an avalanche while skiing. The video shows Trudeau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte laughing.

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