Speaking at Scotia Capital’s financial services conference, Sun Life Financial CEO, Don Stewart, sidestepped the question of whether the firm plans to boost its stake in CI Fund Management Inc.

Stewart told the conference on Wednesday that Sun Life’s 34% stake in CI may be a “work in progress, depending on how the future evolves”.

However, the two firms have a standstill agreement for the next couple of years that will keep Sun Life’s holding were it is, and Stewart said it’s hard to predict how the Canadian fund industry will look in a couple of years.

Sun Life also owns 55% of asset managers McLean Budden, and 78% of MFS Investment Management. Stewart would not says which ownership fraction is optimal.

Stewart said that Sun Life approaches each situation individually, not with a template or a pre-conceived idea. He added that he believes it is very important for the managers of investment management firms to own a significant stake in the business. Within that constraint, Stewart said that Sun Life will maintain flexibility and approach each situation individually.

Answering a question on the investigations into the mutual fund and hedge fund industries in the U.S. –led by New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer — Stewart cautioned that it could tarnish the reputation of the fund industry.

Stewart stressed that MFS had no dealings with Canary Capital, the hedge fund that has been charged with illegal after-hours trading in fund units, and said that MFS doesn’t allow such trading.

However, he allowed that there could be some concerns about the industry’s reputation overall as it faces investigations.