Corporate Governance

Managing Risk

In an uncertain world, the careful evaluation of risk should support every investment decision. Risk management is integral to the CIBC Asset Management investment process and goes beyond simple risk measurement. At CIBC Asset Management, we measure and monitor risk exposure throughout the investment process.

As a matter of course, we exhaustively analyze individual portfolio construction not only for style soundness and process rigour, but also for risk management and control.

Moreover, to ensure objectivity, independent risk monitoring is performed by a specialized team.

Risk Management Systems. CIBC Asset Management dedicates a large number of resources to the development of risk management systems. Each management team applies either in-house models or systems such as BARRA to assess portfolio risk on an on-going basis. All investment professionals at CIBC Asset Management monitor risk and manage according to each client's tolerance, as stated in their investment policy statement. The application of risk management systems enables us to measure a portfolio's exposure to various market risks and therefore to better manage it.

Compliance: A Matter of Trust

While we have every confidence in our people's integrity, professionalism and expertise, we do perform periodic compliance verifications at multiple levels within the firm, and at various steps throughout the investment process.

CIBC Asset Management's Compliance Department is supported by a larger compliance function within CIBC and represents an independent checkpoint responsible to confirm the integrity of all activities within CIBC Asset Management. On a regular basis, members of the Compliance Department conduct random audits on key areas such as trading, compliance with client investment policy statement, proper registration of all investment personnel, soft dollar standards, etc.

CIBC Asset Management's Compliance Department reports monthly to the Compliance Committee, quarterly to the Board of Directors and through the year to CIBC Compliance.

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