RBC Dominion Securities Inc. has snatched a number of top-performing investment advisers with sizable books of business from Dundee Goodman Private Wealth.
An RBC spokesperson confirmed that Stephen Sandler, who has been in the business since 1969, and his sons, Scott and Anthony, joined RBC from Dundee last week. Mr. Sandler and his team had a book worth approximately $1.1-billion while they were at Dundee. They worked with high-net-worth retail clients with $1-million or more to invest.
Ross Deacon and Ronan Clohissey, who headed up a separate team at Dundee, also joined RBC last week. Their book of business was in the $400-million range.
Typically, retail advisers bring much of their book with them when they switch firms. RBC and the other big banks are known for paying top-performing retail brokers sizable bonuses for coming on board from rival firms.
The loss of the brokers sees Dundee Goodman, the retail private client advisory division of Dundee Securities, shed around one-quarter of its entire assets under management (AUM), which was in the region of $6-billion. While it is only one measure of a firm's financial strength and doesn't necessarily dictate profitability, the dip in AUM is a blow nonetheless.
"Unfortunately that's just the nature of the business," Richard McIntyre, head of wealth management, said in an interview. "I wish them all the very best."
Dundee Goodman has also seen some turmoil in its executive ranks of late. In July, the firm ousted John Cucchiella, head of its retail advisory unit, and replaced him with Mr. McIntyre.
Dundee Goodman has approximately 100 advisers in Canada.