TD Asset Management has appointed Rob Vanderhooft as its chief investment officer while Bruce Cooper steps away from the role and remains CEO with a greater focus on international expansion.
Canada’s second-largest bank by assets announced the management changes internally on Monday.
Mr. Vanderhooft joined TD six months ago when the bank acquired Greystone Managed Investments Inc. in a $792-million cash-and-stock deal. He is currently chief executive and CIO of TD Greystone Asset Management.
Prior to TD’s purchase, Mr. Vanderhooft was Greystone’s CEO and CIO. He will report directly to Mr. Cooper, who assumed the role of CEO of TD Asset Management in 2016 and has been CIO of the firm since 2015.
Mr. Cooper will hand over his CIO responsibilities on Sept 1.
The executive shuffle will allow Mr. Cooper to work in the “exclusive” role of CEO, focusing more on the distribution side of the business, assisting TD Asset Management’s plans to “more aggressively expand” into the United states and other markets globally, Mr. Cooper said.
“We think of this as continuity," he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “As the two responsibilities continued to grow, it was determined the right thing to do was to divide these roles, allowing me to concentrate more on the business and distribution changes. ”
TD’s wealth operations, including Greystone, manage more than $393-billion in assets under management, making it the largest manager of Canadian assets for investors, although Royal Bank of Canada’s global business is still larger.
Greystone added $36-billion in assets to TD’s existing wealth business and a specialization in alternative investments such as real estate, mortgages and infrastructure. The investment expertise is an area that TD has just begun to cross-sell to its retail high-net-worth clients, typically those with more than $1-million in investable assets.
“That was always a key part of the overarching strategy," Mr. Vanderhooft said. “To be able to bring our capabilities to different channels at TD in terms of alternative products. For the high-net-worth client, it is about providing them the necessary tools to build portfolios similar to institutional money management."
Last week, TD Asset Management launched its first set of alternative investment funds that provided accredited investors access to TD Greystone Asset Management’s expertise in alternative funds such as mortgages and private and public fixed-income securities. Later this year, other funds will be introduced that focus on other alternative assets such as real estate and infrastructure.
In addition, Mr. Cooper said the bank will be adding to its exchange-traded fund offering for retail investors – launching approximately 30 to 40 ETFs by the end of 2019. The first set of three funds is expected to begin trading in early May.
TD has been slow to penetrate the ETF market share in Canada. It re-entered the industry in 2016 with the launch of six index funds, but assets under management remained stagnant at $75-million. Late last year, the bank added three actively managed funds, boosting its assets to $161-million as of March, 2019.
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Clare O’Hara