As the financial services industry emerges from the aftermath of the economic upheaval of the past two years, brokerage firms are reconsidering their core strategies. Some have undergone a change in ownership, a changeover in senior leadership or a shift in strategic focus. Others have simply recommitted themselves to building upon their niche strengths.
Advisors, for their part, say that their “firm’s strategic focus” and “firm’s stability” are important contributing factors to the advi-sors’ ability to thrive and attract new business. So, how did those surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card feel about their firms’ leadership and strategic direction heading into what is hopefully a new era of prosperity?
Advisors with Toronto-based Macquarie Private Wealth Inc., formerly the wealth-management arm of Toronto-based Blackmont Capital Inc., are almost all excited over the change in ownership that saw Australia-based financial services giant Macquarie Group buy Blackmont’s retail brokerage from Toronto-based CI Financial Corp.
Last year’s acquisition gives the company greater stability, additional resources and fresh direction, advisors say. Thus, they gave the firm a rating of 9.4, up half a point from last year, in the stability category, while rating the firm’s strategic focus at 9.0, up 0.4 of a point from 2009.
Advisors say they were impressed by the new owner’s commitment to the firm, its global reach and respect for advisor independence. They also feel that the parent firm’s reputation and financial heft would help them attract new business. “I had more clients and money immediately,” says a Macquarie advisor in Ontario about the change in ownership.
The Macquarie name has also helped the Canadian firm recruit approximately 15 new advisors to the firm through the first two months of 2010, says CEO Bruce Kagan: “We really think that the Macquarie story is resonating very well.”
Advisors at Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd. were also enthused with the new entity created last autumn from the merger of two boutique firms, Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. and GMP Private Client LP, both of Toronto.
The combined firm, which had 114 advisory teams and $11.5 billion in client assets under management at the deal’s completion in November, now has access to a wider array of products, greater economies of scale and a stronger national presence, advisors say.
“GMP brings energy; Richardson brings maturity,” says a Richardson GMP advisor in Alberta. “These two positive aspects will merge and build a strong brand.”
A new hand at the wheel can also inspire advisors. At Toronto-based CIBC Wood Gundy, the appointment of Monique Gravel as the firm’s managing director and head in November is being met with approval from the rank and file. “She seems to know what’s going on with advisors,” says a Wood Gundy advisor in Atlantic Canada. “She is someone who knows what is needed.”
Gravel, who has 30 years’ experience as an investment advisor with Wood Gundy, was promoted from her former position as the firm’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. “The advisors have known me for a very long time, so it makes my job a lot easier,” Gravel says. “I happen to know where I can make a difference quickly.”
One area she’s identified as a main priority is improving the firm’s technology, which has long been a source of frustration for Wood Gundy advi-sors. “There will be changes in technology coming in the not too distant future,” Gravel says. “I promise you, we will be the best on the Street [in terms of technology].”
Another firm with a new head is Montreal-based MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier Inc., which appointed Daniel Thompson as president and CEO in October. He replaces Timothy Price, who became the firm’s chairman.
Thompson’s strategy is to look for ways to grow the firm by attracting strong advisors, while at the same time emphasizing the firm’s traditional strengths of experience, advisor independence and conservative investment management.
“In terms of stability, this is a 160-year-old firm,” Thompson says. “There is a great deal of experience here. The culture is very, very strong.”
Advisors at 3Macs gave the firm a strategic focus rating of 8.1, up 0.6 of a point from 2009. That rating is based, in part, on the new boss, says an advisor in Quebec: “[Thompson] has a great new attitude and energy.”
Meanwhile, some 3Mac advi-sors say, the firm, although still strong, needs to challenge itself to adapt and keep responsive to changing realities. “We are on the right track,” says a 3Macs advisor in Ontario, “but we could be more aware of changes in the industry, like shifts in client service demands.”