Canadian banking giant sees opportunity from new hub, with plans to hire 100 financial planning associates
TD Bank has selected the location for its planned western Canadian wealth hub.
The bank is planning to establish its new business centre at its TD Calgary Place location, with expectations of employing around 100 financial planning associates as well as more senior planners, reported the Calgary Herald.
Angela Mak, TD’s Regional head of financial planning for the prairie region, lauded the city as a central location to serve the western provinces, as well as the deepest pool for sourcing employee candidates.
“We’re expanding the financial planning business and Calgary has the highest population of post-secondary educated people,” Mak told the Herald. “We think there’s huge opportunities for diversifying in Calgary … it’s more efficient, gives us business continuity.”
With twenty-four associates already hired, the Calgary wealth hub joins two others in Toronto and Montreal. Mak says TD currently employs 1,000 financial planners coast to coast.
Ensuring language diversity is another goal for the location, she added, as the bank seeks to shore up its advisor force with Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking financial planning associates to reflect its client base.
Patrick Mattern, vice-president of business development with Calgary Economic Development, heralded the move as a sign of confidence in the city’s economy. “Establishing a TD wealth hub in Calgary is more validation of the momentum we are seeing in our financial ecosystem,” Mattern told the Herald in an email.
Mak said TD’s expansion of its financial planning services is a reaction to fiscal uncertainties unleashed by the pandemic and other pressures.
As the Big Six bank seeks to expand its wealth business in the west, another plan it has to take over a bank south of the border is drawing scrutiny and support.
In a virtual public forum convened jointly by the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, community members are weighing in on TD Bank’s proposed takeover of Memphis-based First Horizon Bank.
The virtual meeting is being convened jointly by the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which are reviewing the proposed US$13.4 billion deal.
The meeting comes as TD has faced renewed criticism in recent months for allegedly aggressive sales tactics in the U.S., including from Senator Elizabeth Warren who has called for the merger to be blocked until the bank is ``held responsible for its abusive practices.''
TD agreed to a US$122 million settlement with U.S. regulators in 2021 stemming from illegal overdraft practices, while an investigative report released in May alleged that problematic practices continue at the bank, something the bank had strenuously denied.
The federal agencies also held a public meeting in mid-July for BMO's proposed US$16.3 billion takeover of Bank of the West, where numerous community groups urged the deal be blocked until a strong community benefits agreement can be reached.
The bank also faced criticism for the proportionately low number of mortgages granted to Black and Latino borrowers, while numerous community groups that have received funding from BMO voiced their support of the deal.
With files from the Canadian Press.
