Canada’s top financial firms launch western movement to support Ukraine

Noting that Objective had widely adopted ESG factors as part of its mission and business from 2019 onwards, he said that it feels the urge to initiate an effective action. So, during the first weekend of the war, Purpose Financial’s founder and CEO Som Seif began reaching out to others in the industry, and Tsevsky said that “they were extremely receptive” to signing the pledge of disinvestment from Russian holdings.

The pledge notes that “as the faithful, we have a choice in how we allocate our capital and believe these choices can make a difference” and “help others around the world stand up for freedom.” to join”.

While every organization they reached was extremely supportive, many had to process the request through different regimes, procedures, and time-frames, without disagreement. So, by the time they announced it on February 28, the CEOs of Wealthsimple, Harvest Portfolio Group, Prime Quadrant, Greyhawk Investment Strategies, AGF Investments, Forstrong Global and Alberta Investment Management Corporation, among others, joined in to submit their pledges. Have become. “As long as the Russian offensive continues, the disinvestment of the holdings of Russian companies”.

That group manages more than $200 billion in assets for millions of investors, and Tsevsky said several other companies are still working through the process while others have begun to make statements. America has also started a similar movement. Index providers have been announcing that they are pulling Russia out of their holdings as well, and several major companies this week announced they were leaving Russia. Therefore, he expects it to become a Western world movement.

While there was no Russia-specific ETFS listed in Canada, Purpose had two funds exposed to Russian names, which were withdrawn as soon as the pledge began on February 28.