(Reuters) -Bank of Nova Scotia said on Monday it appointed Scott Thomson to succeed Chief Executive Officer Brian Porter, at a time when the Canadian banking sector is struggling with market turmoil and rising interest rates.
Thomson, who has been a member of the board of Bank of Nova Scotia since 2016, will initially start as president from Dec. 1, overseeing Canadian banking, global banking and markets, global wealth management and international banking at the bank.
He will join as CEO, effective Feb. 1, from Finning International Inc, the largest dealer of Caterpillar Inc services and equipments, where he was the top boss for nine years.
At Finning, Thomson helped boost return on invested capital in all business units, particularly in Latin America.
Scotiabank reported third-quarter profit a touch below estimates last month as a sharp drop in income from its capital markets unit overshadowed strong loan growth in its international business.
Last month several brokerages aggressively downgraded the largest Canadian bank as profits at its international banking segment fell below estimates and risks rose from modest net interest margin expectations.
Outgoing chief Porter will transition to a strategic advisor role from Feb. 1 to April 30 next year. He saw assets swell to $1.3 trillion from $744 billion since he took over the role in 2013.
“During his tenure as CEO, the Global Wealth Management business more than doubled in size, now ranking #2 by assets in the Canadian retail mutual fund industry,” said Aaron Regent, chair of the board for Scotiabank.
(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza, Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)
