In this week's edition

You may have noticed things look a bit different around here. Back in April, when you received your final issue of Advisor’s Edge magazine in the mail, we promised online changes were coming, including a redesigned Advisor.ca. The site relaunched last week.

We’re excited about the new look and features as we pursue our mission to provide the content you need to serve your clients, build your business and develop your career. We hope you’ll take some time to explore the site, including a revamped Advisor to Client section with articles designed to share with clients.

We’ll send more information in the days ahead about the site’s features. Please tell us what you think.

A key challenge for executors is dealing with the banks where the deceased held their accounts. Banks don’t want to expose themselves to liability by releasing assets to someone who is not entitled to receive them, and they’re bound by privacy legislation. As part of our Advisor to Client section, Rudy Mezzetta reports on how executors can work with a bank’s dedicated estate settlement department to help smooth the estate administration process. You might want to share this one with clients who are acting as executors.

After six months in limbo, investors in Emerge Canada Inc.’s 11 ETFs finally know when they can access their investments. Emerge will terminate its entire ETF family on Dec. 20. The funds have been untradeable since the OSC imposed a cease-trade order on all 11 ETFs back in April. Melissa Shin reports on the wind-down process, how investors in the funds are responding, and what it means for Canada’s ETF industry.

There’s a lot of interest in how the new alternative minimum tax will affect tax-planning strategies for high-income clients. As columnist Kevin Wark writes, the impact of the AMT on life insurance planning is generally a good news story. With some notable exceptions, he explains, most common insurance planning strategies will not be impacted by the revised rules set to take effect next year.

Canada’s fragmented dispute resolution system for banking complaints is set to end in just over a year. Beginning on Nov. 1, 2024, OBSI will be the sole provider of external complaint handling. The announcement, among a series of measures to improve customer treatment from banks, comes as banking complaints increased more than 300% from last year.

We’ve reported extensively on the benefits of the new tax-free first home savings account (FHSA), as well as the qualifying withdrawal and eligibility rules. As columnist Wilmot George points out, the benefits double when each member of a couple is eligible to open an account. Here’s a breakdown of the specific FHSA rules regarding spousal relationships to ensure your client’s eligibility and maximum benefits.