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It's 2012, and the savvy investor leans over the railing of a spaceship, helmet covering his bowler hat, and surveys the earth below. That was the investment universe as imagined by the Nesbitt, Thomson & Co. advertisement from 50 years ago.
The business hasn't changed that much in the intervening 50 years. But here on earth, it does look vastly different.
Nesbitt Thomson, like many of the large independent firms in Canada, is part of a big bank. Bank of Montreal bought the firm, and it merged with another independent, Burns Fry, to become Nesbitt Burns. Rival firms also agglomerated, creating a group of big bank-owned firms and a small handful of large independents.
As Nesbitt Burns turns a century old, the next 100 years may not see the same sort of change, said Nesbitt Burns chairman Jacques Menard.
"In terms of the large bank-owned dealers, outside of the nips and tucks, most of the growth is going to be organic," he said in an interview just before the firm's anniversary bash Wednesday night on the 68th floor of BMO's Toronto tower. "I'd be surprised if there were significant mutations such as the ones we've had over the last years."
The biggest changes in coming years are likely to be in the constantly evolving technology of the business, the people in the business and what clients need.
Fifty years ago, the baby boom generation that so shaped society and the investing business was in its infancy. Now, the boomers are finishing their working years and looking at retirement.
"We're seeing clients shift from an accumulation phase of their lives to one of sustained returns from the portfolio they spent a lifetime accumulating," said Mr. Menard.
There's also a shift in who is providing the advice.
BMO is focused on adding more women as financial advisers at the firm, something the industry has lacked, said Charyl Galpin, the co-head of the private-client division at BMO Nesbitt Burns. Given that there aren't many women at rival dealers, that means training new advisers.
The final change is likely to be technology. Regulators are demanding more, as are clients. That's not likely to put investors and BMO advisers in space any time soon, but it is a driving force and will continue to be. Investors now get information everywhere, and they need advisers to help them understand what it all means.
"Forty years ago, people phoned to get quotes, and if we were nice, we would tell them," said Mr. Menard. "The reality is we were conveying information. Today, we don't sell information. It's out there. We're conveying advice. Because of technology, one has a much more even-handed relationship, and our business has become a relationship business."