Bank of Nova Scotia is reworking the top ranks of its capital-markets team, while also shuffling senior executives within its Canadian banking division.
Dieter Jentsch, the head of Scotiabank’s global banking and markets unit, has announced his retirement after 35 years at the bank. He took over as head of the division in 2016. Before that, Mr. Jentsch ran international banking.
In his place, Jake Lawrence and James Neate will become co-heads of global banking and markets. Mr. Jentsch will stay on until the end of January to help with the transition.
The change follows a number of high-profile staff moves within Scotiabank’s global banking and markets arm in 2017, including the departure of its global head of investment banking and the exit of Scotiabank’s mergers and acquisitions head.
Mr. Jentsch was also one of the few remaining executives from the bank’s previous leadership team before chief executive officer Brian Porter took over five years ago. Of the bank’s 10 highest-ranking leaders at the time, Mr. Porter is the only one left.
Within global banking and markets, Mr. Lawrence will assume responsibility for global capital markets, with a mandate to expand the division’s market share and profitability, according to an internal Scotiabank memo obtained by The Globe and Mail. Scotiabank’s capital-markets division has been lagging in the rankings this year, coming in sixth place – behind independent dealer Canaccord Genuity – for Canadian equity sales for fiscal 2018, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters Corp.
Mr. Neate will run global corporate and investment banking, and will focus on creating a unified growth strategy for the two divisions, according to the memo.
“We have seen some weaker results [within global banking and markets] due to challenging market conditions as well as some repositioning of our businesses," Mr. Porter, the CEO, said on a conference call this week after Scotiabank reported its fiscal 2018 earnings. "We are building out our investment and corporate banking presence here in Canada and internationally. And we expect improved market conditions for our capital markets and trading businesses.”
Bob Finlay, head of corporate banking for Canada and the United States and head of global mining syndication, is also leaving, according to the internal memo. Mr. Finlay joined Scotiabank in 1980 and worked in internal audit and corporate credit before joining the corporate banking group.
A flurry of other personnel changes were announced on Friday, including the departure of Brenda Rideout, president and chief executive of Tangerine Bank, Scotiabank’s digital banking arm. She was named CEO less than two years ago, in March, 2017.
Gillian Riley will take the helm at Tangerine. Most recently, Ms. Riley served as executive vice-president of Canadian commercial banking, a title that will go to Kevin Teslyk.
Laurie Stang, executive vice-president of Canadian branch banking, is also retiring after 33 years, and John Doig, who was previously chief marketing officer, has been appointed to executive vice-president of retail distribution.
Other notable appointments on the capital markets side include Charles Emond, who takes over as global head of investment banking and corporate banking for Canada, and Loretta Marcoccia, who becomes chief operating officer of global banking and markets.
Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said the moves are not surprising given all the strategic changes at the bank. Scotiabank has a big job ahead of it in terms of integrating recent acquisitions, and has also signalled it plans to reduce its exposure to the Caribbean and target wealth management for future growth, Mr. Shanahan said.
“It seems like it’s probably a good time to make some changes and get the management team in place that will help to integrate and prepare the company for the next stage of growth," he said.
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Alexandra Posadzki
Tim Kiladze