IGM Financial Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 8, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: IGM delivered a record Q1 with Adjusted EPS of CAD 1.21 (≈+21% YoY), returned a record CAD 330 million to shareholders while keeping >CAD 1 billion of unallocated capital and lowering gross leverage to 1.32x.
  • Positive Sentiment: Broad-based momentum drove AUM and flows: IG Wealth ended Q1 near CAD 163 billion AUM&A (≈+15% YoY) with seven straight quarters of positive net flows, Mackenzie hit a record CAD 256 billion AUM with strong retail and institutional wins, and Wealthsimple grew AUM ~71% YoY with record quarterly flows.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management is prioritizing AI across advisor technology, Mackenzie’s quant investing, and operations to boost advisor productivity, investment outcomes, and efficiency, positioning AI as a strategic growth enabler.
  • Negative Sentiment: ChinaAMC experienced significant passive ETF redemptions (industry passive outflows ≈CNY 750bn, with ChinaAMC ≈CNY 200bn), which pressured AUM and market share despite solid Q1 earnings and a received dividend; FY2026 earnings growth is expected in the mid-single-digit range.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
IGM Financial Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IGM Financial First Quarter 2026 analyst call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star, then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kyle Martens, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kyle Martens
Kyle Martens
SVP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at IGM Financial

Betsey, good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. On the call today, we have James O'Sullivan, President and CEO of IGM Financial, Damon Murchison, President and CEO of IG Wealth Management, Luke Gould, President and CEO of Mackenzie Investments, and Keith Potter, Executive Vice President and CFO of IGM Financial. Before we get started, I would like to draw your attention to our cautions concerning forward-looking statements on slide three of the presentation. Slides four and five summarize non-IFRS financial measures and other financial measures used in this presentation. On slide six, we provide a list of documents available on our website related to IGM Financial's 2026 first quarter results. That will take us to slide nine, where I'll turn it over to James.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

All right. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The first quarter has set 2026 up to be another strong year for IGM Financial, with well-positioned wealth and asset management businesses, record high client assets, and an operating environment that, despite periodic market volatility, has continued to be resilient. Adjusted EPS of CAD 1.21 is a first quarter record, with strong earnings growth in both our wealth management and asset management segments, demonstrating IGM's diversified growth. During the quarter, we also returned a record amount of capital to shareholders through our quarterly dividend and a meaningful share buyback program. We also announced in February a well-planned leadership succession, with Damon Murchison taking the role of President, CEO of IGM on July 1st.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Most of you already know Damon from his significant contributions as the head of retail sales at Mackenzie during the 2010s and as IG Wealth's CEO since 2020. He has the confidence of the board, our employees, and our advisors, and is uniquely positioned to build on IGM Financial's strength and momentum. Turning to slide 10, the operating environment for our wealth and asset management businesses continues to be solid and resilient despite periodic market volatility tied to geopolitical tensions. IGM's momentum and diversity within our core businesses and our strategic investments positions us very well for continued growth. On slide 11, IGM's year-over-year earnings growth was 20% in aggregate, with contributions, as you can see, from all segments. Combined with client assets presented on slide 12, demonstrates the diversified growth across our wealth and asset management businesses.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Turning to slide 13, I want to help paint a picture of how we're thinking about and approaching artificial intelligence at IGM. First, our core businesses at IG Wealth and Mackenzie have advantages that we are leveraging and extending to drive advisor productivity, investment outcomes, and client experiences. At IG, for instance, one key advantage is our starting point with industry-leading advisor technology with a strong foundation of system integration and proprietary data ownership. At Mackenzie, our investment management teams have been using AI technologies for many years, perhaps most notably in our global quantitative equity boutique, whose capabilities have been increasingly attracting the attention of the world's largest and most sophisticated investors. Across IGM, AI will also further elevate our operational effectiveness and efficiency.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Looking forward, responsible AI use and oversight, FinTech and global technology partners, horizontal connectivity across IGM's core businesses and strategic investments, combined with the Power Group ecosystem, will all serve as key enablers for IGM Financial in this rapidly evolving age of intelligence. With that, I'll turn it over to Damon to discuss IG's first quarter results.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Morning, everyone, and thank you, James. We look forward to working with you in your new role. I'm confident as ever in the position, the strength that you're leaving IGM in. Turning to slide 15, we can demonstrate this strength and continued momentum through the first quarter at IG Wealth, Rockefeller Capital Management. IG Wealth delivered another strong quarter with record quarter ending AUM&A, record Q1 gross inflows and sales, as well as record Q1 net sales into IGM product. This solid performance contributed to one of IG Wealth's best first quarter earnings on record, which Keith will speak to a little later. The quarter ended with AUM&A of just shy of CAD 163 billion, up almost 15% versus Q1 of last year and up 2% quarter-over-quarter, driven by strong net flows.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Gross inflows were CAD 8.2 billion and gross sales were CAD 6.2 billion, both first quarter records. As we spoke to on our Q4 call, I'll remind everyone that these flows included non-fee-bearing assets related to our relationship with Rockefeller. Excluding those flows, gross inflows were CAD 5.2 billion. We also continue to demonstrate that we are a new client acquisition machine and new client gross inflows of CAD 1.4 billion, a first quarter record, with 77% of those flows coming from mass affluent and high net worth clients, exactly the segments that we've been building this business around. The first quarter was our seventh consecutive quarter of positive net flows, and we once again ranked number one in earned media share of voice amongst Canadian banks and wealth managers.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

It's our fifth quarter in a row in the top position. 2026 is a special year for IG. It's our 100th-year anniversary, which we officially celebrated last week. Our business has evolved over the years. We're very, very proud of our past, and we're confident about our future and our ability to continue to gain market share while helping Canadians achieve their financial well-being. Later in my section also reviews the successful quarters for both Rockefeller and Wealthsimple and how they continue to their strong execution of their respective growth strategies. As we move to slide 16 and beyond, my comments will focus on flows excluding non-fee-bearing assets.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Slide 16 offers a good snapshot of our momentum that we see continuing as this business and our advisors continue to execute with focusing solely on anchored on financial planning and relationships that often span generations. The first quarter delivered our strongest first quarter growth inflows on record. Our clients continued to draw average cost into the market through IGM product at a record pace. During the month of April, our results were also in line with seasonal trends as our advisors turned their focus to long-term tax planning and our clients paid their annual personal taxes. Turn to slide 17. This gives an overview of our operating results, providing a window into the strength of this business. The top left, you can see strong growth in our gross inflows, which were up over 24% versus last year.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

While in the top middle, you can see IGM products continue to represent a very strong share, approximately 88% of our total AUM&A, supported by strong four- and five-star Morningstar ratings. On slide 18, you can see our advisors' strong ability to attract new clients to IG Wealth, particularly mass affluent and high net worth, with a record CAD 1.4 billion in gross flows from new acquired clients, 77% of which were mass affluent and high net worth. We'll remind you that during Q1 of last year, we saw a few ultra-high net worth clients representing approximately CAD 160 million onboarded. Q1 of last year was truly an exceptional quarter for us in high net worth, and despite this tough comp, our Q1 this year was also very strong. In fact, our best Q1 on record via total new client gross inflows.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Turn to slide 19. The first quarter also demonstrated the continued strength in our non-AUM&A-driven businesses, mortgage banking and insurance. While the mortgage business is operating in a challenging industry backdrop this quarter as compared to the very different environment a year ago, it continued to deliver strong performance with a two year cumulative growth of almost 20%. Our insurance business was firing on all cylinders, setting a record first quarter of first-year commissions. All told, our new annualized insurance premiums grew by over 41% versus Q1 of last year. On slide 20, you can see the continued strength of Rockefeller with asset growth over 30% over the past year. For the last 12 months, Rockefeller has delivered an organic growth rate of over 7% solidly within the targeted range that we provided at our last Investor Day.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

On advisor count, during the quarter, Rockefeller also refocused some components of their legacy business to better support their Rockefeller Global Family Office business, driving a slight reduction in their private advisor count. Most importantly, there was no advisors left the firm. Over the last 12 months basis, Rockefeller has added 45 new advisors, representing growth of over 10%. Turn to slide 21. You can see another exceptional strong record quarter for Wealthsimple. Client assets were up 71% versus a year ago, driven by their highest quarterly net flows on record. Client count was up 24% versus Q1 of last year. Wealthsimple continued to deliver on its growth-oriented strategy, attracting new clients and gaining higher share of wallet from existing clients, supporting its position as one of Canada's fastest-growing financial services companies. With that, I'll turn it over to Luke.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Great. Thanks, Damon. Good morning, everyone. Turn to page 23, you'll see highlights for Mackenzie and the asset management segment for the quarter. We are pleased with the continued momentum in the business during the first quarter across a number of dimensions, and this momentum has continued into our second quarter. Our AUM, which you can see at the top left, increased during the quarter, driven by strong net sales. By the end of April, our AUM had increased to a record high level of CAD 256 billion. We had net sales of CAD 1.7 billion in the quarter, which included CAD 1.2 billion in institutional awards and also CAD 729 million in investment fund net sales.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

This was the best first quarter investment fund net sales in four years for us and up meaningfully from last year, driven by strong momentum in retail. This retail momentum is continuing to the second quarter, and as published earlier in the week, we are second-best April investment fund net sales result ever. Actually, I'd also highlight that we had around CAD 2 billion of institutional awards that were awards to us during the first quarter that are going to fund in the second quarter. For this CAD 2 billion, the wins were across both Canadian and foreign clients and reflected our global quant equity capabilities as well as Canadian equity mandates managed by our North American equity team. Under other developments, we've highlighted four new active ETF launches during the quarter, expanding our value and quant offerings within this delivery vehicle.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

We've also highlighted that we closed the market at the TSX a few weeks ago to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of our ETF business. We're very proud of this capability that we built in-house, and which has become a core delivery vehicle for us. We're now approaching CAD 30 billion in ETF AUM, with over 60 ETFs covering a range of active, systematic, smart beta, and traditional beta mandates. I'd also remind that with the launch of a number of successful active equity ETFs over the last two years, a large part of our retail net sales have been occurring within this vehicle type, and I'd remind that the price of these ETFs is full retail margins and aligned with their mutual fund counterparts.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

At the bottom of the slide, you can also see ChinaAMC and Northleaf's continued growth, I'm going to speak to these on the coming slides. Turning to page 24, you can see the trend and history of Mackenzie's net sales. On the left, you can see in the top chart that we had a solid investment fund net sales result for the first quarter, with meaningful growth over 2025 and our third-best Q1 ever. In the middle, you can see momentum continued in April, with our second-best April ever. At the bottom is our overall net sales result of CAD 1.7 billion, which, as mentioned, included CAD 900 million in institutional SMA net sales.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

On the right side, with the last 12-month trailing trend, you can see continued momentum in retail and overall. We're expecting this momentum to continue in the coming quarters, as we believe we have winning conditions in a number of places within our product offerings. On slide 25, I'd highlight first, in the bottom left, that the industry environment is healthy. The current mutual fund net sales rate for industry peers is around 2% of assets, which you can see here in the chart. You can also see that Mackenzie's overall investment fund net sales rate has moved above the industry rate. We're gaining market share, driven by momentum in retail. In the top right, we've highlighted the year-over-year growth in retail, with CAD 700 million in retail improvement, contributing to a CAD 814 million overall improvement in investment fund net sales.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Also in the top right, we did have CAD 934 million in institutional SMA net sales in the quarter, as mentioned, CAD 2 billion in additional awards in the quarter funding in Q2. At the bottom right, I'd highlight the improvement in overall Morningstar ratings in the quarter, with 51% of assets residing in 4-and 5-star funds. Importantly, our share of assets at 5-star funds is at its highest level in the last four years, and we're among the highest in the industry on this measure. Turning to page 26, you can see the performance and net sales for our retail investment fund by boutique. This quarter, we've reoriented the slide to better orient our fundamental equity teams between core and different style and thematic offerings.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Across the slide near the top, you can see compelling performance relative to peers across many of our capabilities. I'm going to talk about quant, but beyond our global quant equity team, we've seen net sales start to improve in Q1 and into April for a number of our teams with compelling performance, like multi-asset, resources, and Greenchip. Towards the left, you can see the strong net sales into our global quant equity capability, where we have retail net sales of CAD 1.9 billion during the quarter. Importantly, as mentioned last quarter, we believe we're just getting started as we trailblaze with quant in retail. We've launched 13 quant mandates in retail across mutual fund and ETF delivery vehicles.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

These mandates have exceptional performance and cover some very large product categories like global equity and international equity, as well as some interesting liquid alt categories like our U.S. alpha extension strategy. This holistic quant all-weather approach that marries AI/HI has delivered track records that are impressive in terms of both the level of alpha, but also the consistency of alpha across different market environments. Turning to page 27, a few comments on the Chinese investment fund industry. Industry assets of CNY 37 trillion were up 15% over the last year and declined very slightly in the quarter. You can see in the bottom left that there were net redemptions of around CNY 600 billion in long-term funds during the first quarter. This reflected institutional net redemptions of passive equity ETFs of around CNY 750 billion.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

This was offset somewhat by active equity fund sales of CNY 200 billion, which was the highest level of active equity net sales in the last four years following robust equity market improvements. On the right, you'll see ChinaAMC lost some market share in the period, declining to 5.6% from 6.2% and maintaining its number two rank in the industry. As the leading provider of ETFs in the Chinese industry, it experienced just over CNY 200 billion in institutional passive ETF redemptions referenced earlier. Turning to page 28, you can see the growth in ChinaAMC's AUM over time. As indicated on the last slide, you can see in the bottom right net redemptions on passive ETFs of around CNY 200 billion referenced earlier.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

I would highlight long-term investment fund assets were up 10% over last year, and Keith will review the solid financial results and financial outlook for the company later on the call. Turning to page 29, you can see Northleaf's continued growth with a 10% increase in AUM over last year and almost 20% cumulative annual growth since we made our investment. During the quarter, new commitments to the Northleaf funds currently in market remained solid despite a challenging macro environment. I'd note that Northleaf's offering is performing very well, and it continues to generate positive net flows and new commitments across its programs. I'll now turn the call over to Keith Potter.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Thank you, Luke, and good morning, everyone. On slide 31, you can see key highlights for Q1. Adjusted EPS is CAD 1.21, up 21% year-over-year. We returned CAD 330 million to shareholders in the quarter, including CAD 185 million in share repurchases. At the same time, we ended the quarter with unallocated capital of over CAD 1 billion and reduced our gross leverage ratio to 1.32 times. We are maintaining expense growth guidance of 4% for 2026. Finally, I would note that we enhanced our interim MD&A in the quarter to condense and focus on material changes from the annual MD&A. Our objective was to maintain the same level of transparency and move more in line with the industry. Turning to slide 32, you can see our AUM&A and flow trend.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

First, as Damon noted, we have introduced the concept of non-fee-bearing assets. We are providing the total AUM for completeness and excluding non-fee-bearing assets to provide transparency into drivers of revenue and expenses. I will reference AUM&A excluding non-fee-bearing assets throughout my remarks. For the quarter, while ending AUM&A was relatively flat, average balances increased 2.4% relative to Q4 and 12.7% on a trailing 12-month basis. On slide 33, you can see how higher assets drove solid revenue growth and a 21% year-over-year increase in Adjusted EPS at the IGM level, driven by our core businesses and strategic investments. As I mentioned, we are maintaining expense growth guidance of 4%. I will speak more to expenses for Mackenzie and IG in a moment. Slide 34 presents key profitability drivers for IG Wealth Management.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

On the left, you can see average AUM&A was up 2.5% from last quarter. On the right, our advisory fee rate increased 0.3 basis points during the quarter, primarily driven by year-end mutual fund distributions paid into client cash positions where spreads are higher than the standard advisory fee rate. As our advisors worked with clients during the quarter, some of this cash has been reinvested into long-term AUM, and we expect advisory fee rates to fall by just over 0.5 basis points in Q2. Cash balances decrease and had a mix shift toward high net worth. The asset-based compensation rate was up slightly in the quarter and expect a modest increase in Q2.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

On slide 35, IG's overall earnings of CAD 158.9 million is a record first quarter, and we're up 23.8% year-over-year on revenue growth of 14.4%, demonstrating strong growth and positive operating leverage in the business for consecutive quarters. On point two, other financial planning revenue continues to demonstrate growth year-over-year, supported by momentum in the mortgage and insurance businesses. On point three, IG's operations and support and business development expenses were CAD 170.2 million in the quarter, up 5.9% year-over-year. Expenses would have been up just over 4%, excluding one-time seasonal expense true-up for year-end incentive programs that were favorable in 2025 relative to 2026.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

I would remind that Q2 is a seasonally high expense quarter for IG with advisor conferences and marketing spend and do expect expenses to be modestly higher in Q2 relative to Q1 2026 and then drop in the second half of the year. Moving to slide 36, we have Mackenzie's AUM by client and product type as well as net revenue rates. On the left, average AUM was up 2.1% versus Q4, and on the right, the third-party rate, excluding Canada Life, decreased 1.1 basis point. This was less than the 2 basis points we guided to last quarter, and the reason for this is during Q1, we earned performance fees on institutional assets of CAD 2.8 million that increased the rate by approximately 1 basis point.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

That partially offset the full impact of institutional onboarding and having two less days in Q1. As we look to the next quarter, we expect the third-party rate, excluding Canada Life, to decrease approximately 3.5 basis points for three main reasons. First, the success of our strategic partners and institutional onboarding in Q1 and expected onboardings in Q2, as Luke referenced. Second, the impact of previously announced fee changes that become effective April first. Third, the non-recurring performance fees earned in Q1 that will not be repeated in Q2. Turning to slide 37, Mackenzie's earnings of CAD 57.4 million are up 9.1% year-over-year. Operations and support and business development expense growth was up 8.2% relative to last year.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Similar to IG, one-time seasonal expense true-ups for year-end incentive programs were favorable in 2025 versus 2026. Our expenses were also driven by technology delivery and a couple of timing items. Looking forward, we do expect Mackenzie's expenses to drop in Q2 relative to Q1 2026. I would also remind that we have reclassified certain variable investment management advisory expenses from operations and support to sub advisory. These expenses are also retrospectively restated for 2025 throughout our disclosure documents. Slide 38 has ChinaAMC results. Luke's already commented on AUM. ChinaAMC did deliver strong Q1 earnings of CAD 34.6 million. For the full year 2026, we expect earnings growth in the mid-single-digit range relative to reported 2025 earnings. I would also highlight that we received an annual dividend of CAD 61.5 million in the quarter.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Slide 39 has earnings contribution from companies in each segment. I'll make a couple of comments. First, Rockefeller earnings of -CAD 1.8 million is in line with guidance from last quarter. As a reminder, Q1 had seasonally higher expenses. As discussed on the last call, we would expect Rockefeller to move into positive earnings in the second half of 2026. For Northleaf, Q1 earnings of CAD 6 million in net of non-controlling interest reflects the positive impact of annual incentive fees, but they were partially offset by negative foreign exchange relative to the U.S. dollar. Looking forward, CAD 4.5 million-CAD 5 million net of NCI is a reasonable expectation for average quarterly earnings in 2026, with expected quarterly variability. On slide 40, we continue to make progress against our capital allocation priorities.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

We returned CAD 330 million in capital to shareholders in Q1, which is an all-time high for any quarter. At the same time, we've maintained approximately CAD 1 billion in unallocated capital. Our gross leverage ratio also ended the quarter lower at 1.32 times. On page 41, as we introduced last quarter, we presented a framework on how management views the buildup of IGM's indicative value, now at approximately CAD 85 per share. As a reminder, we derive the indicative value of our core operating companies using average PE multiples from a diversified group of wealth managers for IG and asset managers for Mackenzie as of market close in April 30th. The indicative value of our strategic investments is based on our historical approach to disclosures as listed on the page.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

While IGM share price has strengthened in the quarter, this framework continues to demonstrate embedded value at IGM Financial. That will end our prepared remarks, and we'll open up the call for questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. We will pause for a moment as callers join the queue. Thank you for your patience. The first question today comes from Scott Fletcher with CIBC. Please go ahead.

Scott Fletcher
Scott Fletcher
Analyst at CIBC

Hi. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask a question, maybe for both sides of the core business. Just on investor behavior and what you're seeing. I know you mentioned volatility in the markets impacting how people are dealing with their savings, but just curious how you're seeing that through the first four months of the year and whether that's going to impact any of, you know, the fee rates or any of the way that it hits the bottom line of your business.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Hey, Scott. It's, it's Damon. I would say what we've seen in the first quarter is that as a lot of our clients have been desensitized to, you know, what they're reading and what they're seeing. We didn't see much change in investor behavior, as a matter of fact. I mean, we're an organization that just continues to talk to our clients about dollar-average costing into the markets, and that's exactly what they've been doing. We expect that to continue.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Yeah. Luke, I'll echo that. That one slide that actually showed the net sales rate for the industry tracking about 2% of assets, we'd characterize that as solid and normal. It's kind of normal conditions when you look at the competition by asset class and just the level of contributions is really normal.

Scott Fletcher
Scott Fletcher
Analyst at CIBC

Okay, thanks. That's good to hear. Maybe one for Damon, just on the wealth and the growth of the clients, it seems like the momentum is still quite strong there. Is there anything to call out in terms of what's driving that or if it's more just more execution on the same plan?

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

To be honest, it's an intersection of the value that we're providing to our clients and where there's demand in the marketplace. What we find is more and more Canadians that we're meeting with are looking for advice that extends beyond just investment advice. They want to help us navigate their wealth and how they're going to explain their wealth to their kids. They want us to help navigate how am I gonna pass on this wealth efficiently, effectively to who I want it to go to. You know, they're talking to us about how they want to leave a legacy. I mean, it's all the things that we've spoke about in the past that's coming to fruition. For us, it's really that intersection of where the traffic is.

Scott Fletcher
Scott Fletcher
Analyst at CIBC

Okay, great. Thank you. I'll pass along.

Operator

The next question comes from Graham Ryding with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Graham Ryding
Graham Ryding
Analyst at TD Securities

Hi, good morning. Maybe Luke, I'll start with you. Slide 25, I think, it shows an encouraging trend there for Mackenzie's flows rate. I just want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. The 1.8% for the industry, is that mutual funds only? That's excluding ETFs? Your flows rate, are you including ETFs in your flows rate?

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Yeah. Good question, Graham. Yeah, ours, the industry is mutual funds. Ours includes our ETFs. And of course, our ETFs are, it's retail. What I would say is we are working with firms like Investor Economics on getting better industry reporting for ETFs. A lot of the data that you see on ETFs includes, I'll call it the incest of mutual funds investing in ETFs. Unpacking the institutional and mutual fund investment from the ETFs is important to get a proper view of ETF net sales. But I would say we are working on that view to be able to present what's being purchased in ETFs in retail. But yeah, ours does include our ETF net sales.

Graham Ryding
Graham Ryding
Analyst at TD Securities

Okay. Understood. Just want to make sure I'm understanding that chart. Don't get me wrong, it's still a positive chart. The, the outflows at ChinaAMC, it seemed to be outsized relative to the, to the Chinese fund industry. I didn't quite get all your information there. Can you remind me, or can you explain to me what drove the outsized outflows at ChinaAMC relative to the, to the industry?

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Yeah, absolutely. For the industry, we had about, there was CAD 600 billion in net outflows in long-term funds for the industry. This was a consequence of CAD 750 billion of redemptions from passive ETFs. ChinaAMC is the largest ETF provider in the industry. Of that CAD 750 billion in industry net outflows and passive ETFs, ChinaAMC had just over CAD 200 billion of it. I would also comment, it's been reported, China's national team, as they call it, has been engaged in financial market stabilization for about two or three years. In the quarter, it's been reported that there was redemptions from that stabilization team as a consequence of robust equity market improvements.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

We view it as a big show of confidence. Indeed, there were a lot of net sales into active equity funds during the period. But that's what you're seeing in the industry, it was about CAD 750 billion of passive ETFs that were redeemed, and ChinaAMC being the largest ETF provider, experienced about CAD 200 billion of that.

Operator

The next question comes from Romel Sabat with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Romel Sabat
Romel Sabat
Analyst at Jefferies

Hi, thank you for taking the questions. My first question is on the non-fee-bearing capital. Could you give us some color on who they are, what is the capital invested in? What's the long-term strategy on the non-fee-bearing capital? Like, are they expected to be converted into fee-bearing capital over time?

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

Yeah. It's Damon here. That is what I would call a special circumstance where we're working with Rockefeller. They've got a number of ultra high net worth families that have Canadian assets, and they're in individual securities. We're working with Rockefeller to make sure that we do what's right by those clients here. Over time, I think there is maybe an opportunity to diversify into some fee-bearing assets, but I wouldn't focus primarily on that, quite frankly.

Damon Murchison
President and CEO at IG Wealth Management

You know, if I step back, what the real opportunity is with Rockefeller, and we always talk about horizontal connectivity, is really a cross-border advisory services program or service that we do in conjunction with Rockefeller, by which we refer them clients, you know, our clients that are working in the U.S. that have assets in the U.S. that are high net worth and opportunistically high net worth, and they work with them, and they do the same thing with IG Wealth. This would drive our fee-bearing business, our traditional business. That's what we're focused on, and there's a real opportunity there long term.

Romel Sabat
Romel Sabat
Analyst at Jefferies

Okay. Yeah, it makes sense. Then my next question is a two-part question on Wealthsimple. Could you give us a rough timeline as to when we should expect earnings contribution from Wealthsimple? The second part is maybe you could explain how the synergies from Wealthsimple with the core business will be realized. Like, how would Wealthsimple help boost revenues for the wealth management and asset management businesses?

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Sure. It's James. I'll start on that. I think the first thing to point out is that the momentum, you know, it absolutely continues. Indeed, it feels like the momentum at Wealthsimple is accelerating. March was their best month ever for flows. Q1 was their best quarter ever for flows. The business is very strong. In terms of profitability, you know, that's I think Wealthsimple needs to take advantage of this momentum. I think they need to continue to build share. They've got a great engine now for acquiring clients. They've got a great revenue model. For so long as they can attract clients at the pace at which they're attracting clients, I'm not focused on profitability. The profitability will come.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

I think they've got a window here to achieve a very meaningful position, you know, alongside the Canadian banks, alongside all of the major Canadian financial institutions. I am wholeheartedly encouraging them to focus on acquiring share, continue to develop their offering, and, you know, continuing to develop their revenue model. Profitability will follow in due course.

Romel Sabat
Romel Sabat
Analyst at Jefferies

Okay.

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Actually, maybe I'll follow up with that. Part of that question was just the synergy with the other businesses. I remind that Mackenzie obviously helps fuel the product offering at Wealthsimple. We're a proud supplier of ETFs to Wealthsimple's investment platform.

Romel Sabat
Romel Sabat
Analyst at Jefferies

Okay. Okay. Makes sense. Thank you so much.

Operator

The next question comes from Bart Dziarski with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Bart Dziarski
Bart Dziarski
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Great. Thanks, good morning, everyone. I guess just sticking with Wealthsimple. A couple weeks back, Robinhood had announced that they're planning on launching crypto offering in Canada later this year. Could you maybe just speak to, one, what is the crypto exposure for Wealthsimple from a business mix perspective and just kind of how you think about the competitive environment with a new entrant coming in? Thanks.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Yeah. It's Keith here. To answer the first question, crypto exposure, you can see the AUM is about CAD 125 billion. Crypto would be, you know, called less than 2% of total AUM. I commented that on the last call. When you look at what differentiates Wealthsimple, they have a very, very diversified business, a diversified revenue stream and are not as reliant on crypto. You probably noticed, you know, peer multiples in the FinTech sector are under a lot of pressure in Q1. A lot of that was due to exposure to crypto and general trading activity. You know, Wealthsimple is structured quite differently, and it's quite a different business with diversified revenue. This is one of the core reasons that we've maintained the fair value of CAD 2.3 billion in the quarter.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

I'd just add, Bart, I, you know, I don't think anyone in the Canadian market innovates as quickly as Wealthsimple. I don't expect that to change. There will be competition to be sure. There will be new entrants to be sure. I can't think of a business that's better positioned to face the marketplace and deliver for clients than Wealthsimple.

Bart Dziarski
Bart Dziarski
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Okay. Great. Thanks for that. I had a question on Northleaf. Maybe it's a bit of a mechanical one. When I look at the Northleaf AUM bridge, there's fundraising, return of capital and FX. Normally for an alt manager in an AUM bridge, you see fair value gains. Am I missing something in that bridge? Should that be included? If not, like, what's been the historical MOIC, if you will, for Northleaf's portfolio?

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Great, great question. I'll take that. I guess Keith could as Luke. On that bridge, the way we present an AUM and it's a choice, we use the measure of AUM that reflects the base upon which they earn revenue. For most of the Northleaf mandates, they don't earn revenue as a percentage of the fair value. They earn it based upon what funded. That's why you don't see any market returns as part of that bridge.

Bart Dziarski
Bart Dziarski
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

It's fee-paying AUM?

Luke Gould
President and CEO at Mackenzie Investments

Yes.

Bart Dziarski
Bart Dziarski
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Okay. Got it. Okay. Okay. Thanks for taking my questions. James, congrats on your tenure with IGM.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Jaeme Gloyn with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Jaeme Gloyn
Jaeme Gloyn
Analyst at National Bank Financial

Yeah, thanks. I just wanted to, you know, clarify or just dig in into the expense guidance. You know, pretty large gross rate in Q1, and then it requires a pretty decent step down in upcoming quarters. Just wanted to get your rationale for the confidence in that step down and the trajectory, I suppose, of how you expect that to flow as a more back half weighted. Thank you.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Yeah. Thanks, James. It's Keith here. Yeah, you know, as I mentioned, you know, part of the higher expense in Q1 was seasonal, related to the incentive true up. A little bit higher tech spend. If you look back to Q1 of 2025, we didn't have as high a tech delivery. What I would say is you can expect Mackenzie expenses to drop in the next quarter throughout the year. Then, you know, similar to what I said at IG, where it's seasonally high next quarter, but you can expect to drop in the second half of the year. I would say that, you know, this was in line with what we expected for Q1 and are sticking with the 4% guidance on our confidence in 4% for the rest of the year.

Operator

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star then one to join the question queue. The next question comes from Tom MacKinnon with BMO. Please go ahead.

Tom MacKinnon
Tom MacKinnon
Analyst at BMO

Yeah. Thanks. Good morning. Just a question on some of the marks you put on ChinaAMC. You know, it's based on the kind of the run rate of the earnings you suggest, you're carrying it at 17 times earnings. Like, these are like BlackRock type valuations here. There has been some pressure perhaps in terms of an outlook for the name. Can you remind us how this CAD 2.1 billion carrying value is developed? If any, do you look at peers? What goes on in that? Thanks.

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Yeah. It's Keith here. I'll take that. For ChinaAMC, it's really the carrying value based on equity method of accounting. That is the carrying value at the CAD 2.1 billion. We would, you know, increase it by earnings reported and decrease it by the dividends paid. That's the actual carrying value, which is based on the equity accounting. You know, when you think about ChinaAMC and their future potential and potential growth, they're the second-largest player in the mutual fund industry and have a diversified business as it relates to institutional. They have a very strong position within the China asset management industry, and we're confident about future growth with the company.

Tom MacKinnon
Tom MacKinnon
Analyst at BMO

That, thanks for clarifying that. Just following up on the Wealthsimple, this, the mark you have there is associated with that round that was done in October. You know, we even take your point on Robinhood, you know, you know Robinhood, and that's down quite a bit. Even a company like Schwab that which is reporting very strong March, is down like, you know, 15% or so. It may be you can describe your process in assessing this fair value mark each quarter on Wealthsimple?

Keith Potter
Keith Potter
EVP and CFO at IGM Financial

Yeah, no, sure. It's Keith here again. As you mentioned, we certainly have two relevant transactions for the fourth quarter that we look to that really demonstrated value at that time. When you look at Wealthsimple performance this period, it was exceptional. You know, James mentioned they had a record March for net flows. They had a record Q1 for net flows, and you can see the substantial growth in AUM, and that also translates into revenue. Despite the fact we have seen FinTech multiples come down in the quarter, and it wasn't just Schwab, it was others, Wealthsimple just has outgrown any downward pressure that we've seen in market multiples in the quarter.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

You know, Tom, it's I mean, valuing private companies within public companies is an interesting kind of topic. Kind of the recency of real transactions is very relevant to ourselves, and to, you know, those that review our work, including Deloitte. The other thing we pay a great deal attention to is Wealthsimple's financial plans and how they're doing relative to plan and what the fair value of the company is as a, you know, as we DCF those cash flows. They continue to surprise, to the upside. You know, those are And so while the, you know, the publicly traded comps are very visible, what's not as visible is, their aggressive plans and how well they're doing at beating their aggressive plans, and that has value implications as well.

Tom MacKinnon
Tom MacKinnon
Analyst at BMO

Okay, thanks. James, congrats on your tenure at IGM, and best of luck as you move on to Power. Thanks.

James O'Sullivan
James O'Sullivan
President and CEO at IGM Financial

Thank you, Tom.

Operator

This concludes the question-and answer-session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kyle Martens for any closing remarks.

Kyle Martens
Kyle Martens
SVP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at IGM Financial

Thank you, Betsey. We'd once again just like to thank everyone for joining us this morning on the call. Betsey, with that, we can end the conference call.

Operator

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Executives
    • James O'Sullivan
      James O'Sullivan
      President and CEO
    • Keith Potter
      Keith Potter
      EVP and CFO
    • Kyle Martens
      Kyle Martens
      SVP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Analysts
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