GMP Capital Corp., the parent company of brokerage firm GMP Securities Ltd., has socked away $10 million to spend on building up its retail division.

The firm’s newly-released annual report discloses that approximately $10 million in capital has been allocated initially to expand the private client division.

On March 29, the firm, which went public last December in a $110 million deal, announced that it had hired James Werry as CEO GMP Private Client, to build its retail division.

The firm reports that its market research “has indicated strong demand from the retail brokerage community for a differentiated and integrated brokerage model that includes, among other things, the ability for investment advisors to participate as equity owners in their own business”.

GMP says that as the only major publicly traded dealer it is uniquely positioned to offer this model to brokers. “We believe that the best businesses are built by hiring talented management, forming strong relationships with our partners, adding value to our clients, and building from the ground up. These philosophies have resulted in the creation of real wealth for our employees and shareholders. We wish to replicate this success in GMP Private Client, which, with successful execution, will help profitably grow our existing business and ultimately enhance shareholder value,” it says.

GMP Private Client will focus on the high net worth segment of the Canadian marketplace, and looks to “utilize our current platform to provide a unique offering to investment advisors and a differentiated value proposition to their clients. We continue to build upon our integrated securities business model in order to create operating synergies and creative idea flow between our investment banking, research, sales and trading and private client divisions.”

The company also released its information circular, reporting its executive compensation and its intention to change auditors.