Briefly: “ScotiaLife expands insurance business” and more news

Scotiabank Group has rolled out three new individual term life insurance products, which will be available at its ScotiaLife Financial Insurance Centres. In addition, it announced the opening of its second retail ScotiaLife Financial Insurance Centre, located in downtown Toronto.

The term life offering marks the first individual life insurance products available through ScotiaLife Financial. The new products include ScotiaLife Term 10, Term 20 and Term to 100 insurance. Coverage will be offered up to $250,000 and the underwriting will be simplified to facilitate a streamlined process for new applicants.

“We understand that customers are looking for simple, straightforward insurance solutions from a trusted source,” said Mark Cummings, senior vice-president and head of insurance at Scotiabank. “As we continue to develop our brand, it is important for us to have a strong presence in the eyes of the consumer. We feel that our brand positioning of ‘Surprisingly Simple Insurance’ resonates extremely well, and reflects not only our product focus but also our value proposition.”

Access to ScotiaLife Financial products continues to be a focus for the Scotiabank Group. Following up on the success of their first Insurance Centre in Mississauga, the new centre located on the concourse level of the Bay Adelaide Centre in Toronto further solidifies the Bank’s strategy to explore and grow this distribution channel. Both centres will offer home and auto insurance along with the three new term life products.

“We see tremendous growth opportunities in Canada and the expansion of our insurance offering within our new Global Wealth Management division will accelerate our ability to provide comprehensive financial solutions to our loyal customer base,” said Chris Hodgson, group head, Global Wealth Management, Scotiabank.

Criterion proposes merger of water, energy funds

Criterion Water Infrastructure Fund, along with Criterion Global Clean Energy Fund announced that special meetings of unitholders of both funds will be held concurrently on Monday, January 10, 2011. If required, an adjourned meeting will reconvene on January 20, 2011.

Unitholders of record on November 30, 2010 will be entitled to receive notice of and vote at the Meetings. The Notice and Management Information Circular, which details the matters to be considered at the meetings, will be mailed to unitholders on or about December 15, 2010, and will also be available on www.sedar.com after mailing.

At the Meetings, unitholders of each fund will be asked to approve a merger, together termed as the mergers, of the respective fund into a new mutual fund called Criterion Utility Plus Fund, which is currently being established by First Asset Investment Management Inc.

Utility Plus Fund will invest primarily in the equity securities of Canadian utility issuers, energy infrastructure issuers, including renewable energy, and other regulated entities. The mergers are proposed to form a larger, open-end mutual fund that will offer superior opportunities for long-term growth and stable income, and will result overall in enhanced liquidity and cost synergies for the benefit of unitholders.

If the mergers are approved, units of the Water Fund and the Clean Energy Fund will be exchanged for corresponding units of the Utility Plus Fund at the close of business on the business day prior to the effective date of the mergers. The mergers should be completed prior to January 31, 2011.

(11/25/10)

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.