Two of canada’s big Six chartered banks — the Bank of Montreal and the Bank of Nova Scotia — made changes to their senior management structure in January, each with an eye to succession planning and growing their businesses along key strategic paths.

In the case of BMO, the change involved a promotion seen as a possible stepping stone to the top job. The bank named William Downe, formerly BMO’s deputy chairman and CEO of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., as its new chief operating officer effective Feb. 1. Downe had also been in charge of all the bank’s U.S. operations, including Chicago-based Harris Bank.

In a statement announcing the change, BMO president and CEO Tony Comper said Downe’s “record of success, client focus and experience has prepared him to provide strong enterprise-wide leadership in the role of COO.” There has been speculation in the industry that Comper will step down within the next two years, although he has not announced his intentions.

“Tony Comper has an aggressive agenda and goals for the year ahead as he continues to lead BMO,” says Ralph Marranca, a BMO spokesperson. “Downe’s appointment reflects our focus on higher performance in all of our businesses.”

Downe’s experience running the bank’s U.S. operations dovetails nicely with BMO’s intended strategy of building that business. Harris Bank is the third-largest bank in Illinois. “The U.S. track record is a good one but we can always do better,” Marranca says. “We have said consistently that we will grow the U.S. personal and commercial business to approximately double its size through acquisitions and organic growth.”

Downe, who is a 23-year-veteran of the bank, will report directly to Comper, and will be responsible for all of BMO’s operating units — personal and commercial banking in Canada and the U.S., investment banking, the private-client business, technology and corporate marketing.

New CEO at Nesbitt

In another move, Yvan Bourdeau was promoted to CEO of Nesbitt Burns from president and COO. He will head the investment banking group, reporting to Downe. And Tom Milroy and Eric Tripp have been named co-presidents of Nesbitt Burns, reporting to Bourdeau.

“Bill Downe will now be able to devote more of his time to the opportunities ahead,” Marranca says, “as Yvan Bourdeau picks up his investment banking group accountabilities.”

Karen Maidment’s role is being expanded from that of CFO to that of chief financial and administrative officer; she will continue to report to Comper directly.

In a report released by RBC Capital Markets in mid-January following a conference of Canadian bank CEOs, analyst James Keating noted that “BMO’s clear focus in 2006 is to build revenue momentum.”

“Our strategy hasn’t changed. It remains very clear,” Marranca says. “It is to grow our core Canadian businesses and accelerate our expansion in the U.S. You will continue to see all of BMO’s businesses focused on achieving best-in-class performance. We are continually looking at new ways to serve our customers, grow the business and create new value. That focus will continue.”

At Scotiabank, management changes were necessitated by the retirement of a senior executive and by the bank’s desire to strengthen its domestic banking division.

Bob Brooks, formerly senior executive vice president and group treasurer of Scotiabank, has been promoted to vice chairman and group treasurer. Brooks will take over from Bob Chisholm, vice chairman and CEO of domestic banking and wealth management, who is retiring in April after a 20-year career at Scotiabank.

“Brooks will still fill the group treasurer function and he will take over some of the things Chisholm did, including sitting on boards,” says Frank Switzer, spokesman for Scotiabank.

On the domestic banking side, a succession plan has been announced in light of Chisholm’s departure, which now sees the domestic banking side reporting directly to the CEO rather than the vice chairman.

“Succession planning is something taken very seriously at Scotiabank. We are always looking ahead and making sure we have a plan in place,” Switzer says.

Chris Hodgson, currently vice president of wealth management, becomes executive vice president and head of domestic personal banking, while retaining his responsibilities for wealth management.

The bank’s strategy on the domestic side, Switzer says, is “to continue to bring together the branch network, lending services, and the wealth-management operation to serve our customers more effectively .”

Toward that end, Alberta Cefis, currently executive vice president, retail lending services, has been appointed executive vice president, domestic personal lending and insurance. In her expanded role, Cefis now adds responsibility for domestic insurance services, including creditor insurance.

@page_break@Wendy Hannam, executive vice president, domestic branch banking, will become executive vice president, domestic personal banking and distribution. Hannam adds responsibility for the bank’s Canadian electronic banking contact centres to her portfolio.

Both Cefis and Hannam will report to Hodgson.

Switzer says the change that sees domestic banking reporting directly to the CEO is a reflection of Scotiabank’s desire to grow retail market share among the Big Six. Scotiabank, he says, currently ranks fourth among the Big Six.

“We’ve been ranked first in customer service four of the past five years in Synovate’s annual independent customer survey,” he says. “Even though Canada is a mature market, we believe there’s room to grow and to increase our share of the business.” IE