ETF Pioneer Fights Back as Canada Regulator Questions ESG Claims

Som Seif, the entrepreneur bent on disrupting Canada’s financial industry, has found himself at the center of an unprecedented showdown with the country’s top markets watchdog.

The asset management executive is a consummate marketer — a skill that helped him build a firm that was one of Canada’s early winners in exchange-traded funds, sell it to BlackRock Inc., then start another, Purpose Investments Inc.

But that knack for self-promotion has caught the attention of the Ontario Securities Commission, which now alleges that Purpose made false or misleading statements about its use of environmental, social and governance factors ...