Exteriors of the CIBC sign located on the sidewalk outside the bank's head offices at the corner of King St. West and Bay St. on Dec 29 2011. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
It's official: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has the least popular board of any of Canada's big banks.
Generally bank investors are a quiescent bunch, content to elect the directors put forward by Canada's big lenders with nary a peep of protest. Many director nominees get 98 or 99 per cent of the votes cast in their favour, with a percentage point or two withheld.
There are a couple of big exceptions to that rule this year. Without question, Canada's least popular bank directors are the ones who meet in the top floor boardroom at the CIBC tower in Toronto.
CIBC's directors had by far the most votes withheld by investors of any large Canadian bank, and three directors on CIBC's board had more withheld votes than any other director of a major bank in the country. Only one other bank, National Bank of Canada, had any directors whose results were close.
With all the big bank AGMs in the books, here's a rundown of the results.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Derivatives expert Leslie Rahl wins the title of least-supported director in Canadian banking, with investors withholding almost a fifth of votes cast.
Former federal cabinet minister John Manley came in second for that "prize" at 14.5 per cent withheld.
Ron Tysoe, a former Campeau Corp. executive, finishes third at 14.4 per cent
What is telling about CIBC is that its directors, on average, got less than 95 per cent of votes in their favour, with an average withheld of 5.63 per cent. That is more than double the average at any other bank.
Why were CIBC's directors in the doghouse? One issue is Ms. Rahl's involvement in Fannie Mae, where she was a director until the financial crisis that crippled the company. Another is the fact that Mr. Manley and Mr. Tysoe sit on numerous boards. That raised concerns at some firms that advise shareholders on how to vote, leading to the high withholding numbers.
National Bank of Canada
This board has the biggest split. Most directors got 99 per cent or better. But there are two notable exceptions. Investors withheld almost 13 per cent of the vote for Lawrence Bloomberg, the founder of the brokerage firm that is now the heart of National Bank's securities division. Investors also withheld a little more than 12 per cent of the votes for lawyer Gerard Coulumbe.
The rest of the board got very strong returns, keeping the average low at 2.33 per cent.
Bank of Nova Scotia
This is a board that investors are obviously happy with.
No director had more than 3.75 per cent of votes withheld. The average withheld was 2.30 per cent.
Royal Bank of Canada
No nominee had more than 3.62 per cent of votes withheld. And the average withheld tally was 1.7 per cent.
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Another bunch of happy campers. The least popular director had only 3.1 per cent of votes withheld, and the average was 1.46 per cent.
Bank of Montreal
Just when you thought investors could not be any more supportive of a board, you come to the numbers for BMO. One director had 3.04 per cent withheld, and the average is a minuscule 0.88 per cent.
(Boyd Erman is a Globe and Mail Reporter & Streetwise Columnist.)
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