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
There is not much hiring going on these days in the investment banking business, but Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is bucking the trend by adding to the group responsible for running share underwritings.
CIBC hired Rob Magwood, most recently of UBS AG's Canadian investment banking business, to focus on finding deals for the equity capital markets group. He will be an executive director.
UBS has been scaling back its focus on Canada, letting go of 20 people in an office of about 50 back in January. Even though Canada has in recent years been one of the world's most lucrative markets for investment banking, the Swiss bank decided to cut down its presence as part of a global revamp. Its presence in this country has been slipping as of late – last year it placed out of the top 20 in stock underwriting in Canada.
CIBC, meantime, consistently ranks among the top five banks for the amount of Canadian share underwriting done.
Prior to joining UBS in 2010, Mr. Magwood was a director in the equity capital markets group at the firm that is now Stifel Nicolaus in Canada. Before that he was an economist in the Department of Finance in Ottawa.
(Boyd Erman is a Globe and Mail Reporter & Streetwise Columnist.)
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