Shane Jones, 51, appointed to the newly created position of chief investment officer CIO) for ScotiaMcLeod Inc. last autumn, is a burly former professional soccer player from Wales who continues to apply the teamwork principles he learned in professional sports.
“A lot of the job is about teamwork,” Jones says. “And my previous career in professional soccer helped me understand how team players interact, how people can work off each other and back each other up.”
Jones came to Canada in 1981 at the age of 20 to play professional soccer, but injuries ultimately forced him to seek another career. In 1982, he joined Toronto Dominion Bank‘s Visa credit card centre, where he dealt with overdue accounts – the first step in a long and winding career in financial services that has taken him through stints as a trader and mutual fund manager before leading to his current role. Now, as head of advisor services for ScotiaMcLeod’s portfolio advisor group, Jones oversees the team that assists ScotiaMcLeod’s cross-Canada network of advisors in constructing portfolios for their clients by providing information on markets, asset allocation, stock and sector recommendations, and trading ideas.
“The position of CIO was created to bring change in the advice that goes to ScotiaMcLeod advisors,” Jones says. “We want our advisor group to be more like portfolio managers in their approach to client portfolio construction.”
Jones’ team gathers information from a multitude of sources on stock and bond markets, interest rates and the economy, then filters it for dissemination to ScotiaMcLeod’s advisor network. Advisors receive in-depth quarterly reports, as well as shorter weekly reports and daily updates. Jones also travels frequently to meet with ScotiaMcLeod advisors and their clients across the country.
His philosophy is “researching deeper.” This means providing advisors with more than the latest “buy” or “sell” recommendation from ScotiaMcLeod’s research team or the views of the economics department.
“We dig deeper to find out what people are saying that is not necessarily in the media,” Jones says. “Besides the views of our own economists, we also want to know what European and U.S. economists are saying, so we can formulate a broader view on what will affect portfolios. We want to provide something different that sets us apart from the crowd.”
Asset allocation is one of the areas covered by Jones’ group. Recommendations are made regarding the weightings of various asset groups and which specific companies look the most attractive within those groups. The goal is not to try to call the market but to help advisors develop strategies and to let them know when the winds appear to be changing direction.
Frightened clients
“We provide advice, but every advisor makes their own decisions based on their clients’ circumstances, needs and objectives,” Jones says. “We don’t dictate to advisors; they know the client best.”
Jones says the past five years have been a difficult time for clients – markets have been extremely volatile and some “investor fatigue” is setting in. Clients were frightened by the financial meltdown of 2008, and continue to be nervous. “There is a need,” says Jones, “to put the news in perspective and provide a balanced approach.”
Jones’ long-term goal is to provide advice to advisors throughout all of Bank of Nova Scotia’s international operations, most likely starting with Latin America. Scotiabank has established a banking presence in such areas as Mexico and the Caribbean, and this presence is a launching pad for other services.
Jones also oversees ScotiaMcLeod Managed Portfolios, proprietary funds that are sold to investors willing to put up the $100,000 minimum. Jones personally manages a portion of the Canadian equities and Canadian dividend-paying portfolios.
“My forte is dividend-paying stocks,” Jones says. “I look for companies with ongoing free cash flow and potential for growth.”
He says portfolio management keeps him close to the pulse of the stock and bond markets: “I follow what’s going on with individual stocks and bonds, and that perspective helps with the overview.”
Jones’ introduction to investing came through a series of opportunities that came his way once he left the world of soccer and entered banking. After working for a year at TD’s Visa centre in Vancouver, he joined the foreign-exchange division of the treasury department of Royal Bank of Canada in 1986, and that’s when he got bitten by the financial services bug. Jones was transferred to Toronto, and began adding to his formal education by studying at night, eventually completing a degree in economics at Ryerson University and obtaining his portfolio manager’s designation.
It was in 1992, when Jones moved to RBC Asset Management Inc., that his job evolved into portfolio management. After starting out in global fixed-income, he moved his focus to equities, specializing in financial services stocks, contributing his expertise to a variety of funds, including RBC North American Dividend Fund, RBC Canadian Dividend Fund, RBC Balanced Fund and RBC Canadian Equity Fund. Jones was co-manager of RBC’s Canadian Dividend Portfolio from 2000 to 2004, and became sole manager after the retirement of John Kellett.
In 2007, Jones moved to Scotia Asset Management LP as head of equities, and his responsibilities included overseeing all equities portfolios, as well as direct responsibility for various private client vehicles and mutual funds.
“I didn’t set out to have a financial career, but I was in the right place at the right time,” Jones says. “It’s an exciting business, and I continue to learn every single day.”
Jones likes to travel for pleasure. Last spring, he spent a couple of weeks experiencing soccer madness in Europe with his wife, Kathy, making stops in London, Amsterdam, France and Spain. While Jones no longer plays or coaches soccer, he is a fervent fan of Liverpool and an avid watcher of games.IE
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