US to hold UN summit to strengthen global efforts to combat financing of extremist groups + MORE Dec 4th

The United States is organizing a summit of finance ministers from U.N. Security Council nations aimed at strengthening global efforts to combat “the financing of terrorism” — especially methods used by Islamic State extremists.
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Friday that Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will chair the Dec. 17 meeting which will adopt a new resolution on the sanctions regime against al-Qaida and the Islamic State, focused on the growing IS threat.
Lew said cutting IS, also known as ISIL, off from the international financial system and disrupting its financing “are critical to effectively combatting this violent terrorist group.”
“A united international front is vital to achieve that goal, and this meeting marks an important step in co-ordinating our efforts,” he said in a statement.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Tuesday that the United States is working on a draft resolution “that will consolidate and streamline the council’s recent efforts on ISIL financing, as well as include new steps to make the sanctions more effective…

OTTAWA – The Justin Trudeau era is officially underway in Parliament with the reading of a throne speech sketching out the priorities of the new Liberal government.
The brief speech, delivered by Gov. Gen. David Johnston, promises a new spirit of openness and civility in Parliament, in which all members — on the government and opposition benches — will be honoured, respected and heard.
It expands on five well-worn themes that were central to the Liberals’ stunning upset victory in the Oct. 19 election.
First and foremost, it reiterates Trudeau’s pledge to cut the tax rate for middle-income earners and provide a more generous child benefit to those who need it, all paid for by a tax hike on the wealthiest one per cent.
It also promises significant new investment in infrastructure to boost the stagnant economy.
The speech also reiterates Trudeau’s promises to run an open and transparent government, reform the electoral system, empower backbenchers, work with the provinces to put a price on carbon, launch an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and legalize marijuana…

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan welcomed their newborn daughter with a pledge to put 99% of their FaceBook stock into charitable initiatives, but some see it as a canny business move. We speak to Linsey McGoey, author of “No Such Thing as a Free Gift.”

F-series mutual funds—favoured by investors with fee-based accounts who don’t want to pay trailing commissions—have got some cheaper competition: platform-traded funds. First introduced by Invesco earlier this fall, PTFs are similar to exchange-traded funds in that they’re bought and sold like stocks (albeit on a private exchange accessible only by fee-based IIROC-certified advisors) and require no minimum investment. But unlike ETFs, orders are filled at the end of the day using the fund’s net asset value, which can avoid wide bid-ask spreads for illiquid funds. Best of all, PTFs’ management fees range between 0.6% and 1.1%, which is about 23% cheaper than comparable F-series funds.
The post F-series investors: Save more with PTFs appeared first on MoneySense.

The Big Six banks delivered fourth-quarter results that reflected a challenging environment of low interest rates and a slow Canadian economy