Assante

August 15, 2005

United Financial Corporation seeks to merge all three United RSP Pools

TORONTO, Aug. 15 /CNW/ - United Financial Corporation (formerly Assante Asset Management Ltd.), manager of the United Pools (formerly Assante Pools), today announced that it will be seeking unitholder approval to merge its three United 100% RSP-eligible foreign pools (United RSP Pools) and transfer their assets into their equivalent non-RSP United Pools. The move follows the elimination of the foreign content limit on registered plans.

Each United RSP Pool has a corresponding United non-RSP Pool, and each United RSP Pool will be merged into its corresponding pool as described below:

    	Terminating United RSP Pool      Into    Continuing Non-RSP Pool
    	---------------------------              -----------------------
    	RSP Global Fixed Income Pool     into    Global Fixed Income Pool
    	RSP US Equity Diversified Pool   into    US Equity Diversified Pool
    	RSP International Equity         into    International Equity
    	Diversified Pool                         Diversified Pool

As part of the mergers, investors in each United RSP Pool will exchange their units for units of the corresponding pool on a dollar-for-dollar basis. United Financial intends to complete each merger and wind up each United RSP Pool. Following the merger, pre-authorized chequing plans and automatic withdrawal plans that were established for the United RSP Pool will be re-established in a comparable plan for the corresponding pool, unless investors advise otherwise.

The mergers are subject to unitholder and regulatory approvals. United Financial will be holding a special meeting in Toronto on September 22, 2005 for United RSP Pool unitholders to vote on this issue.

United Financial has assumed responsibility as portfolio advisor of each of the United RSP Pools, effective immediately, so that they may be managed efficiently in the interim period until they are merged.

The investment objectives for each of the United RSP Pools remains the same, but the investment strategies used by the portfolio advisor in pursuit of those objectives is changed as follows:

RSP Global Fixed Income Pool
The portfolio advisor expects to achieve its objectives by investing:

some or all of its assets in securities of other mutual funds that provide exposure to debt securities of issuers located throughout the world
in high quality, foreign currency denominated debt securities issued or guaranteed by Canadian federal, provincial or municipal governments, corporations and other Canadian governmental entities
in securities of permitted supranational agencies in a variety of countries throughout the world (a supranational issuer is an entity designated or supported by national governments to promote economic development or reconstruction, such as the World Bank)
in debt securities that are issued by foreign national governments and foreign corporations
in derivatives such as forward contracts for the purposes of currency hedging and cross-currency hedging to manage foreign currency exposure
in bond futures contracts on major futures exchanges to achieve appropriate levels of exposure to foreign currencies or to major bond markets. Futures would be used where there is limited supply or high transaction costs, and will be covered at all times by a high quality money market instrument or cash

RSP US Diversified Pool
The portfolio advisor expects to achieve its objectives by investing:

some or all of its assets in securities of other mutual funds that provide exposure to US equity markets
in stock exchange-listed securities that provide the direct or indirect financial exposure desired
in an active manner so as to reflect the portfolio advisor's desired exposure to various market capitalizations, sectors and investment styles

RSP International Diversified Pool
The portfolio advisor expects to achieve its objectives by investing:

some or all of its assets in securities of other mutual funds that provide exposure to equity securities of corporations located in the countries included in the MSCI-EAFE(R) Index
in stock exchange-listed securities that provide the direct or indirect financial exposure desired
directly in equity securities of corporations located in the countries included in the MSCI-EAFE(R) Index, index participation units and other similar financial instruments.

About United Financial Corporation

United Financial Corporation (formerly Assante Asset Management Ltd.), a subsidiary of Assante Corporation, provides a broad range of portfolio management solutions exclusively through a national network of financial advisors affiliated with Assante Wealth Management and IQON Financial. United Financial Corporation has $9 billion of assets under management. Assante Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of CI Financial.

For further information: please contact: Steven Donald, President and Chief Operating Officer, United Financial Corporation, Tel: (416) 681-5650; Media contact: Kavitha Karnaker, Assante Wealth Management, Tel: (416) 681-7046