(September 17 – 09:30) Laurentian Bank of Canada is positioning itself as a wholesaler of personal financial services, in step with the growing number of independent financial advisors in Canada.
Henri-Paul Rousseau, Laurentian’s president and CEO, told investmentexecutive.com that the bank has an opportunity to move away from being a retail bank with only 2% of market share to a major wholesaler of best-of-class financial products to independent financial advisors.
The bank already provides independent advisors with products such as RRSPs and mutual fund loans for their clients. This week, it announced a joint venture with mutual fund manager Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild Banque to market a diversified family of mutual funds with an international focus.
It also intends to hook up with Vidéotron Communications Inc. to sell products to the cable company’s 2.3 million customers in Quebec. All of these moves are meant to increase channels of distribution for the bank’s products.
Rousseau is also in discussions with Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada for a cross-marketing deal. It was during those talks that a deal was struck for Laurentian to buy the mortgage and deposit portfolios of Sun Life Trust Co.