Charlie Spiring’s challenging new role as vice chairman and a member of the executive committee with Montreal-based National Bank Financial Ltd. is to oversee the bank’s non-Quebec wealth-management assets. One of Spiring’s goals is to turn parent National Bank of Canada’s perceived weaknesses in the wealth-management arena into strengths.

“Ninety per cent of what the banks do is really good,” says Spiring, founder and former CEO of Winnipeg-based Wellington West Holdings Inc. “I want to change the other 10% through tools, services, products and pricing flexibility.”

In fact, Spiring says, he hopes the products and strategies that made Wellington West successful will be adopted by NBF. These include fee-based trading accounts — which are flexible, client-friendly and had served to differentiate Wellington West from its competitors — as well as analytical tools to help brokers be more efficient.

In late May, National Bank had announced it would purchase the 82% of Wellington West that it didn’t already own. Wellington West’s approximately 600 shareholders gave the deal an overwhelming thumbs up, with 99% of them voting to approve the deal at a meeting in early July. The process of integrating Wellington West’s operations with those of the bank-owned NBF is underway, and Spiring expects the Wellington West name to be dropped within the year.

“Over the summer,” says Spiring, “we have to get to know each other intimately. We want to make sure we don’t spoil anything that’s working well. I want to add dessert to the main course.”

Spiring says he wants to develop a revamped recruiting package that focuses on financial advisors on the retail wealth-management side, including financial planners and advisors licensed by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.

Spiring also wants to acquire retail wealth-management companies on both sides of the border: “We will be very active in Canada, but my lens will also look to the U.S.”

Financial services industry observers downplay the potential for a clash of cultures that could result from the combination of Wellington West, which prided itself on being an independent firm, and NBF. Gavin Graham, president of Graham Investment Strategy, a Toronto-based investment consultancy, says National Bank has had an ownership stake in Wellington West for some time and both firms are well past the “get to know you” phase.

National Bank made its first investment in Wellington West three years ago, when it bought a 12.5% stake in the firm for $35.8 million. The bank had slowly built up its position to 18% as shares became available through the retirement of brokers. “There shouldn’t be any surprises,” Graham says. “I imagine that was one of the reasons [National Bank] wanted to take majority control [of Wellington West]. It must be comfortable enough if it’s willing to spend $333 million.”

The goal for any major independent, Graham says, is the ultimate exit mechanism: either go public or find a buyer willing to write a big cheque.

National Bank set an objective three or four years ago to build its complement of brokers up to 1,000 and to have at least half of its revenue from NBF, its full-service brokerage division, come from outside of Quebec, says Luc Paiement, executive vice president of wealth management with National Bank and co-CEO of NBF.

The addition of Wellington West boosts the number of NBF’s brokers by about 200 to 960, while revenue from English Canada now sits at 48% of the total. Says Paiement: “There is more growth for us outside of Quebec.”

Spiring had announced plans to take Wellington West public several years ago, but didn’t follow through because the bottom subsequently fell out of the market. Now, he says, the time is right to find a strategic partner. IE