Paul Cantor, the former chief executive officer of National Trustco Inc. and Confederation Life Insurance Co., is back looking for a job after two years running a school for international financial regulators.
Mr. Cantor was CEO of National Trust when it was sold to Bank of Nova Scotia in 1997, and was at the helm of Confed Life when it collapsed in 1994. In early 1998, he was hired as the first executive director of the Toronto International Leadership Centre for Financial Sector Supervision, an organization that brings senior financial civil servants from around the world to Canada to learn how to handle crises caused by financial meltdowns.
The centre, which is sponsored by the federal government, the World Bank, York University's Schulich School of Business and several big Canadian banks, announced yesterday that Mr. Cantor will be replaced in mid-February by David Winfield, the former senior vice-president of global government relations at Nortel Networks Corp., and former Canadian ambassador in Mexico.
Mr. Cantor, 58, said yesterday that he always intended to stay at the centre for just two years as a "sabbatical from capitalism," but now he wants another job in the financial industry to have "one more kick at the can" before retiring.
Mr. Cantor said he has talked to potential employers in two sectors -- financial institutions, and firms in what he calls "human resources/leadership." He hopes to have a position finalized by late winter or early spring, although "nobody has thrown themselves across my altar and said, 'Marry me' yet," he said yesterday.
Mr. Cantor was a candidate for the CEO position at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1992, but left the bank after he lost out to rival Al Flood. He took over the top job at Confed later that year, and while he tried to halt the insurer's downward slide, he was unable to do so.
At National Trust, Mr. Cantor tried to make the company more competitive and improve its technology, but just when results were beginning to show, controlling shareholder Hal Jackman decided to sell the firm to Scotiabank.
At the centre for financial sector supervision, Mr. Cantor was able to draw on experience from early in his career, when he was desk officer for the federal government responsible for liaison with international financial agencies. His time at Confed also gave him first-hand knowledge of a financial crisis. During that period, he had "an intimate, ongoing relationship" with Canada's financial regulator, he said.
The centre has exposed about 150 senior regulators from 60 countries to case histories designed to give them insight into regulatory crises involving banks. The centre hired senior international regulators to discuss cases ranging from the collapse of Central Guarantee Trust in Canada, to the fall of British investment bank Barings PLC.
The centre has held eight sessions over the past two years. Currently, regulators from Botswana, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Peru are braving Canada's cold to attend a banking session in Toronto. Next year, the centre will begin teaching securities regulators, in addition to bank supervisors.