As the closing speaker at Scotia Capital’s financial services conference on Wednesday, Dundee Wealth Management Inc.’s Ned Goodman painted a picture of his firm as the Rodney Dangerfield of the retail investment business.

Goodman noted that C.I. Fund Management has been getting all sorts of attention for bolting together asset management, distribution and structured products manufacturing with its acquisitions of Assante Corp.’s Canadian businesses, Synergy Asset Management Inc. and Skylon Capital Corp.

He said that alhough Dundee Wealth has fielded a similar model for several years now, it has gotten no respect from the market.

Goodman said that Dundee Wealth is also prepared to do acquisitions of its own, and is particularly interested in building up its distribution capabilities in both Quebec and Western Canada. While gaining scale is the obvious attraction of an acquisition, Goodman explained that it is also critical to increase the quality of the distribution force.

Currently, the distribution business hardly makes any money for Dundee, Goodman said. The firm’s profits derive from product manufacturing.

However, he suggested that the future will see power swing toward the distributors, particularly those running an IDA platform. Goodman said that Dundee will make more money from distribution in the future as it gains scale and develops innovative products.