New head of iShares Canada to lead deeper adoption of ETFs

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Pat Chiefalo is stepping in as the new head of iShares Canada, as ETF veteran Warren Collier takes on a global role.

Effective Oct. 2, Mr. Collier will take on a new role as the global head of index and data strategy for iShares, while Mr. Chiefalo will take over as head of iShares, BlackRock Canada.

Mr. Chiefalo joined BlackRock as managing director, head of iShares product for Canada in 2014. Over the span of his career, Mr. Chiefalo has focused heavily on research and analysis. Prior to joining the firm, he spent five years leading the exchange-traded-fund research team at National Bank Financial and became known as one of the top ETF specialists in the country. He also spent six years in equity research at both Scotia Capital and Merrill Lynch as lead equity analyst as well as several years on the derivatives desk for Merrill Lynch, a division of Bank of America.

"The Canadian iShares business continues to be the market leader, and Pat's combined industry knowledge and strong relationship base position him and the business well for the next leg of growth, driving deeper ETF adoption and identifying new opportunities in the Canadian market," said Maeve Hannigan, vice-president of corporate communications at BlackRock.

Canada's ETF industry has been booming with 14 new providers joining the industry over the past year. In Canada, there is now a total of 24 ETF firms managing $133.8-billion in assets, according to a recent report by National Bank Financial. That is up from only 10 providers managing $97-billion in assets in April, 2016.

As the country's largest ETF provider, BlackRock iShares Canada has captured a large piece of the pie – 42.7-per-cent market share with 117 ETFs on its shelf.

Mr. Collier – who only stepped into the role as head of iShares in 2015 – has been a big part of the firms success to date. Mr. Collier has been with BlackRock for almost 18 years, including his years with Barclays Global Investors, which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Since then, he has held several executive roles including chief operating officer of iShares in the United States.

This isn't the first executive shift the company has seen this year. Earlier this summer, head of wealth sales Elisabeth Préfontaine left the company, saying there was "a change in the Canadian operation's business model."

As Mr. Chiefalo moves into his new role, Steven Leong, currently a director on the iShares product team, will assume the role of head of iShares Canada product.