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CEO Steve MacPhail, 58, started at CI when it went public 22 years ago.Jay Grace

In Canada's rapidly changing investment industry, CI Financial is one of the few independent companies still standing as a formidable rival to the big banks. CEO Steve MacPhail, 58, helped make it that way. He started at CI when it went public 22 years ago, and rose from CFO to COO to chief executive. He has a reputation for keeping costs and management fees low – a friend says MacPhail "is the last guy to take Uber if there's surge pricing." But he has also been hugely successful at winning over clients and shareholders. He retires this summer, leaving a giant with $109-billion in assets under management.

CI is often praised for embracing the evolution of money management. What prompted it?

The defining moment was looking at how the banks would compete. Back in the 1990s, they weren't particularly effective, but we viewed them as sleeping giants. Eventually they were going to figure this out.

You also pushed for lower fees. Today, there's a lot of talk about fee disclosure. Is the issue overblown?

I'm happy when our clients understand what is being paid. If you go to a restaurant, it's pretty clear what you pay for a meal. And if you have a valuable product, people are willing to pay for it. You're at risk if you're overcharging and not delivering. In a newspaper article a few years ago, a 27-year-old explained that she didn't want to pay fees any more – she was going to manage her investments herself. But she also admitted, "My first couple of guesses didn't work out very well." I told people this is why we don't have to worry. If the alternative is guessing, we've got to be able to do better.

So there is a strong appetite for money management, so long as it delivers returns?

We have a lot of wealthy clients. In our Assante division alone, we have $16-billion in accounts for which the minimum size is $1-million. People assume wealthy clients are also good investors, but a lot of them started tire businesses, clothing businesses or whatever. They are phenomenal entrepreneurs, but that doesn't mean they're financial experts.

The banks are pushing aggressively into this high-net-worth market. Does that competition worry you?

It's the fastest-growing part of our business, but we haven't been blowing our horn about it. My focus for the last year has been enhancing our Assante [high-net-worth] and Stonegate [ultrahigh-net-worth] businesses to stay ahead of the banks. I would say, on average, the banks don't take business from us; we take business from them.

I'm sure you've heard the jokes about you being a stingy boss. Do they rile you?

I wouldn't say I'm frugal. I'm more than willing to make investments and spend money when we need to. But my philosophy was always that if we grow the company, we have a bigger fee pool to draw from. We have a cost-conscious culture at CI – it's not just me. It will survive long after I'm gone.

Lately, business leaders have railed against investors' obsession with short-term results. How did you stay focused on the future?

It's very hard to tune out the noise. Today, institutional shareholders like to meet you much more often. You're also focused on quarterly results because the analysts force you to be. I think it's very important as a CEO to not hold back on necessary investments in your business. Just make sure you communicate them properly.

You travel a lot. Are you looking forward to some calm?

I don't mind the travel. This is a national company. But it does take a personal toll. I'm stopping on June 30. Anyone who's a cottager knows that is a really good time to start a new section of your life.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

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Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 18/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
CIX-T
CI Financial Corp
+1.3%17.08

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