Credit and Equity Market Weakness Will Affect Flows and AUM Levels at CI Financial in the Near Term

We believe that industry consolidation is inevitable for the traditional U.S.-based asset managers as they face an environment where organic growth and fees are being pressured by low-cost index-based products and participants are expected to spend more to produce better investment results and stay relevant on distribution platforms. While the Canadian market has yet to feel the full brunt of competition from index funds and ETFs, we expect to see the same pressures eventually affecting Canadian firms like CI Financial.