TORONTO, April 2, 2020 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") (TSX: CIX) today reported preliminary assets under management at March 31, 2020 of $112.2 billion and assets under advisement of $43.7 billion, for total fee-earning assets of $155.9 billion.

"CI's operations have proven to be resilient in the face of unprecedented events," said Kurt MacAlpine, CI Chief Executive Officer. "We have transitioned seamlessly to remote working for more than 95% of corporate employees, with no impact on our service levels or our portfolio management operations. Our sales teams continue to actively engage with their clients, while our Assante, Stonegate and RIA advisors have taken a number of steps to reach out and support clients.

"Following significantly improved flows in January and February, the volatility on global financial markets driven by COVID-19 has naturally affected our assets under management and led to increased redemptions in the month of March," Mr. MacAlpine said. "With the ongoing uncertainty, redemptions moved higher at the end of March and included one large institutional redemption. However, flows in our Canadian retail business have still improved year over year, with gross sales up 50% and net redemptions improved by 25% compared to the first quarter of 2019. 

"In addition to managing our response to market volatility and the pandemic, we are continuing to execute our strategic priorities of modernizing our asset management business, expanding our wealth management platform and globalizing the firm," Mr. MacAlpine said.

In the month of March, assets under management and assets under advisement decreased by 11.7% and 10.6%, respectively. Year over year, assets under management declined 14.5% while assets under advisement were 3.5% lower. Assets under advisement includes assets at Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd., Stonegate Private Counsel, WealthBar Financial Services Inc. and, as of January 2020, Surevest Wealth Management of Phoenix.

In March, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 17.4%, while the S&P 500 Index declined 12.4% in U.S. dollars and 7.4% in Canadian dollars.

CI's average assets under management for the quarter were $127.6 billion, compared to the average of $130.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019.

CI also reported preliminary sales results for the first quarter. CI's Canadian retail business, excluding products closed to new investors, had $1.2 billion in net redemptions, representing an increase in redemptions of $0.8 billion over the fourth quarter of 2019 and an improvement of $0.4 billion over the first quarter of 2019. CI's Canadian institutional business posted net redemptions of $0.8 billion, representing an improvement of $0.7 billion from the fourth quarter of 2019 and an increase of $0.6 billion from the first quarter a year ago.

CI's international business had net redemptions of $0.4 billion for the first quarter of 2020. CI's closed business, comprised primarily of segregated fund contracts that are no longer available for sale, had $0.3 billion in net redemptions for the quarter.

CI will announce its financial results for the first quarter of 2020 on May 6, 2020.

Further information about CI's assets and financial position can be found below in the tables of statistics and on its website, www.cifinancial.com. These are the only statistics authorized by CI, and CI takes no responsibility for reporting by any external sources.

CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent Canadian company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services. Its primary operating businesses are CI Investments Inc., Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd., CI Private Counsel LP, GSFM Pty Ltd., WealthBar Financial Services Inc., and BBS Securities Inc. Further information is available at www.cifinancial.com.

SOURCE CI Financial Corp.

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