Toronto-based investment dealer Raymond James Ltd., the Canadian arm of North American investment dealer Raymond James Financial, Inc., Wednesday announced that two highly respected industry veterans, Kurt Molnar and Nick Pocrnic, are joining the firm in key roles in energy research and institutional equity sales, respectively.

Both men previously worked for Stiefel Financial Corp’s Canadian offices until that firm made the decision to close its operations in Canada last month.

“Kurt Molnar has established a durable oil & gas research franchise and we are excited to aggressively grow it on our equity capital markets platform,” says Daryl Swetlishoff, senior managing director and head of research for Raymond James Ltd.

Molnar joins the firm as equity analyst, energy working in the firm’s Calgary offices covering small- and mid-cap energy firms. This follows last week’s hiring of Chris Cox who is returning to Raymond James as equity analyst, energy where he will focus on coverage of senior integrated oil and gas companies. Both Molnar and Cox will start with the Raymond James energy research team on October 7.

Effective October 14, Nick Pocrnic will join the firm’s Vancouver sales desk as senior vice president, institutional equity sales. His focus will primarily be on serving institutional clients in British Columbia, Alberta, Texas and California.

Raymond James Ltd. is the Canadian arm of North American investment dealer Raymond James Financial, Inc., which is based in St. Petersburg, Fla.