National Bank of Canada has named Nancy Paquet as its next executive vice-president for wealth management, taking over from Martin Gagnon who retired in April.

Beginning Nov. 1, Paquet will oversee the bank’s wealth management activities and serve on its senior leadership team, reporting to president and CEO Laurent Ferreira.

Denis Girouard, executive vice-president and co-head of financial markets, has been leading the bank’s wealth management division on an interim basis since Gagnon’s retirement.

Paquet, who has worked at National Bank since 2007, will oversee its full-service and self-directed brokerages, investment product manufacturing and distribution, third-party clearing and trust services, the bank said in a release.

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She’s been senior vice-president of personal banking since last year, responsible for the retail distribution network, exclusive remote advisory service, Natbank (NBC’s subsidiary in Florida) and the Canadian consumer financing network.

“Throughout her career, Nancy has helped successfully advance the bank’s investment strategy by making advice central to our positioning,” Ferreira said in a statement. “She is ideally suited to lead our differentiated wealth management franchise, a key pillar in our strategy to accelerate our growth.”

Other industry moves

  • Van Der Hout Associates Wealth Management in Toronto has joined Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. from Richardson Wealth Ltd. The team includes Dustin Van Der Hout, portfolio manager and investment advisor who started the practice in 2011; Mabelle Tavares, investment advisor; Elina Surkov and Katy Tien, both associate investment advisors. Their clientele includes high-net-worth individuals and families, and business professionals.
  • Peggy McCallum, who’s spent several decades providing legal and governance advice tied to pensions and employee benefits, is serving a two-year term on the board of directors for the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. She’s a former partner and is currently counsel with Toronto-based Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and previously worked for the Pension Commission of Ontario.
  • Cam Di Giorgio and Daniel Simunac have been named co-CEOs for Stonebridge Financial Corp., an investment management firm in Toronto that’s involved in ESG-oriented private credit. Cormac Mac Lochlainn has been appointed executive vice-president, while one of the firm’s co-founders, Robert M. Colliver, will transition to executive chairperson. Di Giorgio has worked for the firm since 2009, most recently in the role of executive vice-president, while Simunac and Mac Lochlainn are both coming from Raymond James Bank, subsidiary of Raymond James Ltd.
  • Ambar Bajaj has been promoted to head of Americas ETF product research and strategy at Franklin Templeton. The role involves working on the firm’s active ETF strategies, with a focus on Canada. He was previously vice-president and senior ETF strategist.
  • Louise Brinkmann, a compliance veteran who most recently worked with the Ontario Securities Commission, has been named head of CanDeal Benchmark Solutions for Toronto-based CanDeal Group, a provider of electronic marketplace tools and data services that’s owned by a group of Canadian dealers as well as TMX Group. She’s been in the industry for more than 20 years, a release said, and will help the company ensure its new services meet global standards.