Mackenzie Investments' parent firm IGM Financial Inc. reported earnings this week. Wealth management subsidiary IG Wealth is moving its Winnipeg head office.powerofforever/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Mackenzie Investments has reduced the number of investment teams to nine from 15 as parent firm IGM Financial Inc. IGM-T looks to streamline costs and reinvest in artificial intelligence.
IGM Financial, which reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, announced last month that it was taking a $95-million restructuring charge to reduce complexity and costs across its businesses. Some of the charge would be used for severance payments, the company said.
IGM estimated the restructuring would allow it to save $70-million annually by the end of 2028 and said the savings would be used in part to invest in AI.
Luke Gould, president and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Mackenzie, said during IGM Financial’s earnings call on Thursday that the changes at the asset manager were “designed to bolster the scale, talent management and resources of each team and to foster AI and technology enablement.”
Mackenzie has “rationalized” and reassigned three investment team mandates to existing teams as part of fund changes announced in May, while other teams have joined forces and are now co-ordinating and sharing research.
The U.S. small and mid-cap team mandate, for example, was rationalized and reassigned to the global quantitative equity team.
Phil Taller and John Lumbers, who were portfolio managers for Mackenzie U.S. Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund (now Mackenzie GQE U.S. Small-Mid Cap Equity Fund) as well as several other U.S. and global equity funds, left the firm in May, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.
The company didn’t say how many jobs were cut as part of the restructuring.
During Thursday’s conference call, Mr. Gould said he was pleased with Mackenzie’s “continuing momentum” in the quarter.
Mackenzie reported $268.8-billion in assets under management at the end of the second quarter, up 19.7 per cent from the same quarter last year.
Net sales were $1.9-billion in Q2 compared to net redemptions of $135-million in the same period last year.
Thursday’s second-quarter earnings conference call was IGM’s first under new CEO Damon Murchison, who maintains his role as CEO of subsidiary IG Wealth Management.
Mr. Murchison took over the reins of the company on July 1 from James O’Sullivan, who became president and CEO of Power Corp. of Canada. IGM Financial is a subsidiary of Power Corp.
Also on Thursday, IG Wealth announced plans to move its Winnipeg head office to an office tower at 360 Main St., “reaffirming its deep roots in the city and long-term commitment to Winnipeg’s future.”
IG Wealth said it planned to sell its current building at 447 Portage Ave. The decision is consistent with the company’s approach in other markets where it doesn’t own its office space, the company said.
The wealth manager said the move would happen through a “multi-year transition extending to mid-2028.”