Worldwide: Financial Services

The AI boom is creating unprecedented demand for GPUs, servers, power systems, cooling infrastructure, and other data center assets in Canada. As highlighted in the Equipment Lease & Finance Association’s (ELFA) recent article, as part of the data center “gold rush,” equipment finance has become a critical part of the capital stack supporting data center development, with lenders increasingly financing GPU-backed infrastructure and related technology assets. Canada’s cooler environment, expansive geography and access to abundant water and electricity in certain provinces, make the country a desirable location to build data centers.

The Canada Revenue Agency’s access to information about cryptocurrency and other crypto-assets is entering a new phase. Canadian taxpayers have always been responsible for identifying, valuing, classifying, and reporting taxable crypto activity, even where an exchange issued no Canadian tax slip, the transaction occurred through a foreign platform, or the assets were never converted into Canadian dollars. 

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) has published rule amendments to harmonize advisor compensation (the Amendments). Following CIRO’s 2024 position paper that consulted on three potential regulatory approaches to allow payment of advisor compensation to advisor-owned corporations for all CIRO-regulated dealer members (Dealers), the Amendments propose to adopt the Incorporated Approved Person compensation option.