Cedar Leaf Capital, Canada’s first majority Indigenous-owned investment dealer, has gotten the okay from all necessary regulators to open its doors and will start operations this month.
Driving the news: The firm will initially focus on debt market deals, with three Indigenous shareholders each owning 23.3% and Scotiabank controlling the remaining 30%.
- Scotiabank is providing the tools and infrastructure Cedar Leaf needs to get things started, but intends to divest its share once the firm is self-sustaining.
Why it matters: Between Indigenous stakes in major power, resource, and infrastructure deals and economic reconciliation pledges from 15 of Canada’s 20 largest public companies, there’s a strong demand for Indigenous brokers to help facilitate upcoming investments.
- In fact, Cedar Leaf came to be after Scotiabank received a call from a client looking specifically for an Indigenous-owned broker-dealer, and the bank realized the gap.
- Per the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, Indigenous investment in natural resources and energy projects could be as much as $525 billion in Canada over the next 10 years.
Zoom out: Cedar Leaf will also strive to bring more Indigenous talent to finance. As of 2022, just 1.4% of employees in Canada’s financial and banking industries were Indigenous.—QH
