News & Updates

2021 Year in Review

Blog-Date-1Feb 01, 2022

2021 was another exceptional year for the W.A. Robinson Group of Companies, as well as the Frontenac MIC, despite the obvious challenges of this COVID-19 pandemic. Our rural and suburban focus continues to see great results as the world grows more accustomed to remote work.

Anemic GIC rates, and questionable (and often negative) bond returns, led Canadian Investment Advisors to reposition, thereby allocating more money to the Frontenac MIC than ever before.

The fact we are prospectus-based continues to be one of our largest competitive advantages. It means we offer greater transparency and greater regulatory oversight, ensuring the Frontenac MIC is easy for investors and advisors to use.

Effective cash flow management (inflows and outflows) remains a high priority in the Frontenac MIC and is a critical component to our consistent success. Too much capital inflow from the advisor community can cause an unnecessary cash drag which could then reduce overall performance. Not enough money in could result in good quality mortgages that we cannot fund. Maintaining the right balance is the reason why we may temporarily cap inflows in a particular month, or proactively seek additional capital commitments in others.

With advisor support, W.A. Robinson Asset Management raised just over $38 Million into the Frontenac MIC in 2021. At the time of writing this article, the Frontenac MIC is sitting at $207 Million in AUM.

With mortgage broker support, Pillar Financial, our mortgage administration and underwriting business, approved nearly $180 Million in Ontario residential 1st mortgages for our customers in the past year, shattering the results from any previous calendar year. Pillar has now underwritten and approved well over $1 Billion in mortgages over time!

The Frontenac MIC returned 5.53% after fees for the calendar year 2021, including dividend reinvestments — an outstanding result for what may be the most conservatively-managed MIC in Canada.  Since becoming a public issuer in 2005, we have provided a positive return for 17 consecutive calendar years for our investors. For additional context: our worst calendar year returned a respectable 4.22% and our best year returned an enviable 7.2%.

Gord Ross
Chief Sales Officer
W.A. Robinson Asset Management