Scotiabank-owned firms to manage several MD funds

Companies owned by Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia will now manage several of MD Financial Management Inc.’s investment funds, MD said Thursday.

Scotiabank acquired MD, which provides financial services to physicians and their families, in October.

MD named new portfolio managers for a number of funds, while also lowering fees and reducing its allocation to Canadian equities in favour of foreign equities.

“As we were making these portfolio-level changes, we took the opportunity to reassess our investment advisers with a view to further enhancing the potential of many of our funds and pools,” said Craig Maddock, MD’s vice-president of investment management and senior portfolio manager, in a release.

Two of the subadvisors newly appointed to manage MD funds — 1832 Asset Management L.P. and Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd. — are also owned by Scotiabank. The new portfolio managers do not change the funds’ overall risk classifications, MD said in its release.

MD also said it’s “leveraging its relationship with Scotiabank” to reduce annual investment fees by approximately $6 million.

For a complete list of new portfolio managers and fees, see MD Financial’s press release.

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