Investor Economics Insight February 2018

The Canadian financial advisor (FA) channel is home to approximately 30,000 registered advisors operating within 69 member firms of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA). The FA channel is of key importance to mutual fund manufacturers, particularly for those that are independently- or life insurer-owned and which have limited or no access to an affiliated dealer; at last count, mutual fund assets held at the MFDA dealers in the FA channel totalled C$270 billion. This month’s Insight research feature examines the FA channel with a special emphasis on the mutual fund book of business. The feature leverages an exclusive database created as part of the 2016 MFDA Client Research Project, in which Strategic Insight played a key analytical role. This has allowed us to take a high-resolution photo of how advisors’ practices have been shaped in the channel. The analysis includes information about advisor book segmentation; the largest mutual fund providers and funds in different regions; fund usage; and other important metrics. The Trendlines article at the end of the report explores the progress of socially responsible investment.