A former Canadian bank executive is leaving her role as president of personal investing at Fidelity Investments after only two years with the Boston-based wealth management giant.
Joanna Rotenberg was recruited by the U.S. investment firm in late 2021 after leading Bank of Montreal’s wealth management division for five years. The US$4.4-trillion personal investing unit she oversaw at Fidelity included financial planning, mutual funds, retirement accounts and exchange-traded funds.
However, earlier this year, the company divided the division into two businesses: one for self-directed customers and another for retail investors who want advisory assistance.
“Joanna successfully led the Fidelity Wealth organization through the first phase of this reorganization,” Fidelity spokesperson Nicole Goodnow said in an e-mail statement Thursday.
In November, Fidelity tapped Tom Jessop to oversee the unit that is focused on self-directed customers, including the retail trading, digital assets, digital experience and client service teams. Mr. Jessop previously ran Fidelity’s digital assets arms, which includes cryptocurrencies.
The company has also tapped Roger Stiles to lead the wealth business, which includes discretionary wealth and advisory services for individual investors.
“Amid this reorganization,” Ms. Rotenberg decided to leave at the end of this year, she said in a LinkedIn post Thursday.
“It was a decision that felt right for me and timely for the business.”
Before joining Fidelity, she worked at BMO for 11 years, where she also held the roles of chief marketing officer and head of strategy. Previously, she spent nearly a decade at consulting giant McKinsey & Co., where she was a partner.
As the head of wealth management at BMO, Ms. Rotenberg grew the bank’s wealth management segment through BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., a full service advisory business, and BMO InvestorLine, a direct investing brokerage – two businesses that saw a spike in client activity since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more do-it-yourself investors signed up for online accounts that prompted a surge in BMO’s trading volumes – which also includes the bank’s robo-adviser SmartFolio and online portfolio manager adviceDirect.
Ms. Rotenberg accelerated plans to bring more sophisticated advice to do-it-yourself investors by upgrading BMO adviceDirect to offer clients the opportunity to connect one-on-one with a dedicated investment adviser to help with their trading and investment decisions, as well as complete customized financial plans.
When she was hired by Fidelity, the American wealth management giant was transitioning from a company that was best known for actively managed mutual funds, and used to be synonymous with star stock pickers. The wealth management world has evolved dramatically over the past two decades, and Fidelity wanted to focus more on individual investors who have much more market knowledge than they used to.
Amid this shift, Ms. Rotenberg was seen as a key hire because of her experience with the technology platforms that underpinned these businesses.
Ms. Rotenberg, through a Fidelity spokesperson, declined The Globe and Mail’s request for comment.
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