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Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,

Why this top analyst has a sell rating on each of the Big Six banks: Most of the time, betting against the big Canadian banks is a big mistake. Last year was an exception. In 2018, the Big Six group of stocks put up its worst calendar year since the global financial crisis, as it succumbed to a downdraft in the energy sector, a housing market slowdown, concerns over household debt, trade tensions between the United States and Canada and a global stock market correction. Story (Tim Shufelt)

Desjardins Group suffers massive data breach by rogue employee: A rogue employee of Desjardins Group has leaked the personal information of 2.9-million members of the financial services cooperative but executives tried to reassure customers Thursday that their money is safe. The personal information included names, birthdays, social insurance numbers, email, telephone and home addresses, according to Desjardins Group CEO Guy Cormier. Account access information like passwords, personal identification numbers and identity-confirmation questions were not leaked, he stressed. Story (Les Perreaux)

Green For Life planning IPO: A year after Toronto-based waste management company GFL Environmental Inc. scrapped plans to go public and instead brought in new private-equity backers, the company is seeking to raise as much as US$1.5-billion ($1.98-billion) in an initial public offering this fall, according to a person close to the transaction. If successful it would one of the largest Canadian IPOs in recent years, topping the $1.83-billion IPO for Hydro One in 2015, according to data from Bloomberg. Story (Jason Kirby)

Quadriga founder moved customers’ money into his personal accounts, Ernst & Young says: The founder of defunct cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX moved users’ money into his personal accounts, created artificial trading volume and inflated company revenue, according to a report from Ernst & Young. Rather than holding cryptocurrency in company wallets on behalf of Quadriga’s users, its 30-year-old chief executive officer, Gerald Cotten, moved large sums of customer assets into his personal accounts at competing exchanges, the report said. Story (Joe Castaldo and Alexandra Posadzki)

Head of Silicon Valley Bank’s Canadian division stepping down: The head of Silicon Valley Bank’s Canadian division is leaving the bank for personal reasons less than four months after the California-based lender received a licence to operate in Canada. Barbara Dirks was named Head of Canada for SVB, as the bank is known, in March of 2018. In an e-mail to industry colleagues on Thursday, she said she plans to “take some personal time to focus on family health issues and to pass the baton as the Head of Canada by resigning the post.” She will leave SVB in the coming weeks after helping with a transition, and a search for her successor is under way. Story (James Bradshaw)

MORE FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS

Former head of Caisse mortgage unit Otera files wrongful-dismissal suit: The former head of Otera Capital, a subsidiary of the Caisse de depot pension fund manager, is seeking about $7.35 million in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. Story (Canadian Press)

Deutsche Bank executives expect restrictions on U.S. business to continue: sources: Deutsche Bank AG executives expect U.S. regulators to continue to impose restrictions on its Wall Street investment bank even if it passes an annual health check, three sources familiar with the matter said. Story (Reuters)

Deutsche Bank faces FBI investigation for possible money-laundering lapses: source: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining whether Deutsche Bank complied with laws meant to stop money laundering, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Story (Reuters)

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