Banks, finance minister unveil business-growth fund today

TORONTO — Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Canada’s five biggest banks are set to announce a new fund aimed at helping small- and medium-sized businesses access cash to help them grow, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The two sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Morneau and the CEOs of the banks have an announcement scheduled for this morning.

The need to help small- and medium-sized businesses secure capital has become a growing topic of conversation in financial and political circles as of late.

During a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto last month, CIBC CEO Victor Dodig spoke of how such a fund would invigorate the economy. He said CIBC has been in talks with Ottawa and other financial institutions about creating a “sizeable” Canadian business growth fund, financed by the private sector, for smalland medium-sized enterprises.

“What’s interesting about the business-growth fund in Canada is that it’s a private-sector initiative,” Dodig said. “It’s financial institutions coming together to help the small- and medium-sized business sector and generate a return for our shareholders, and the government has simply come together to convene us to say: ‘We think this is a good idea, we think you should go do this.”’

In February, a federal panel advising Morneau on economic growth published a report that recommended creating a business-growth fund of $1 billion.