Scotiabank hires new chief economist from outside

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Bank of Nova Scotia has a hired a new chief economist from outside the bank to replace Warren Jestin, the long-time chief economist who announced his retirement in April.

Jean-François Perrault will start on Dec. 31, 2015. His most recent role was with the federal government, where he was assistant deputy minister with the economic and fiscal policy branch of the Department of Finance. He will be relocating from Ottawa to Toronto.

He has also worked at the Bank of Canada as assistant chief of the Canadian projections and policy analysis; the International Monetary Fund, where he was senior adviser to the executive director for Canada, the Caribbean and Ireland; and the World Bank, where he was senior economist of the economic policy and debt unit.

This international background gives him the sort of global perspective that is valuable at Scotiabank, which has substantial operations in Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America.

He certainly joins the bank, which is armed with 15 economists, at an interesting time with plenty of moving parts to make sense of: Interest rates are on the rise in the United States as the economy improves, the Canadian economy continues to struggle with the lingering impact of low commodity prices, and developing economies are navigating current account deficits, volatile commodities and weaker economic growth in China.

"Jean-François' in-depth analytical knowledge on a wide range of economic and fiscal issues, along with his extensive experience, will be a tremendous asset to Scotiabank," Sean McGuckin, Scotiabank's chief financial officer, said in a statement.

Mr. Jestin's retirement starts on March 1, 2016, ending nearly four decades at Scotiabank – including 25 years as the bank's chief economist and, according to Mr. McGuckin, the bank's ambassador around the globe.