Exclusive Online Only ContentTSX’s Nesbitt Resigns, Named CEO of CIBC World Markets
January 8, 2008
TSX Group chief executive Richard Nesbitt will step down next month to take the helm at CIBC World Markets. His resignation comes less than a month after the Toronto Stock Exchange’s parent company made public its plans to merge with the Montreal Exchange.
Nesbitt, CEO since 2004, will continue until Feb. 27 in his role at TSX Group, which also owns a public venture equity market--TSX Venture Exchange--the Calgary-based Natural Gas Exchange and interdealer broker Shorcan. TSX Markets president Rik Parkhill and TSX Group CFO Michael Ptasznik will serve as co-chief executives until a permanent replacement can be found.
TSX Group chairman Wayne Fox said that Nesbitt, who will succeed Brian Shaw at CIBC, “has been a leader during tremendous change in the organization. He leaves behind a strong management team that will continue to execute on the organization’s growth strategy as it has in the past.”
The combination of TSX with the derivatives exchange in Montreal, to be called TMX Group, “grows out of a common vision for the future of the Canadian capital markets,” Nesbitt said when the deal was announced on Dec. 10. He noted that both international and Canadian customers will benefit from increased liquidity levels, accelerated product development, a fully diversified product suite and superior technology. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Nesbitt would have been chief executive of Toronto-based TMX Group.
Jean-Charles Robillard, spokesperson for the Montreal Exchange, said the announcement came as a surprise but that the merger, expected to close this quarter, will continue on schedule.
Montreal Exchange president and CEO Luc Bertrand was to have been deputy chief of TMX Group while retaining his positions at the derivatives exchange. According to Robillard, Nesbitt’s departure does not change Bertrand’s appointment. “I assume the TSX Group will start a process” to find a replacement and will have more to announce in the future, he added.
Steve Kee, director of corporate communications at TSX Group, said the company is “treating this as business as usual.”
The Toronto Stock Exchange reported Monday that its trading volume in 2007 was up 17.1 percent over 2006. It had 207 new listings, versus 197 in the previous year.
Before taking the top spot at the Toronto company, Nesbitt, 52, was for three years president of TSX Markets, where he was responsible for trading and market data operations. Prior to that he spent three years as president and CEO of HSBC Securities Canada and ten years at CIBC Wood Gundy.
Gerry McCaughey, president and CEO of CIBC, called Nesbitt a “talented and respected executive who shares CIBC’s vision of creating shareholder value by delivering consistent, solid and sustainable growth over time.”
CIBC also announced Monday that Tom Woods, CFO of the Canadian banking company, has moved into the chief risk officer role, replacing the departing Ken Kilgour. McCaughey said that Woods “is a seasoned professional with deep knowledge and understanding of our risk profile and our strategy of consistent and sustainable growth.” David Williamson, formerly president of Atlas Cold Storage and CFO of Clarica Life Insurance, will fill Woods’ vacated position.
