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A Royal Bank branch on Bay Street in Toronto on Aug. 2, 2013.Gloria Nieto/The Globe and Mail

A second chief risk officer is leaving a Big Five Canadian bank.

The Royal Bank of Canada said Morten Friis will retire on Jan. 10 next year after about a decade in the role and more than 30 years at the bank.

The exit was announced minutes after the Bank of Nova Scotia said that its own chief risk officer, Rob Pitfield would exit at the end of the year.

Mr. Friis has worked in other areas of RBC in the past including corporate banking, fixed income, and RBC's financial institution business.

RBC's chief operating officer Mark Hughes will take over the position of chief risk officer following the exit of Mr. Friis. He will move into the role of deputy chief risk officer on Nov.1. This will mean Mr. Hughes joins RBC's group executive .

"Mark will report directly to me and will be an excellent addition to our Group Executive Committee. His in-depth understanding of RBC, global perspective and previous experiences will continue to serve him well in his new role," said RBC's chief executive Gordon Nixon.

The bank also said that RBC's chairman, David O'Brien, will retire at the end of the year, but will stay on as a director until Feb. 26, 2014. Mr. O'Brien was formerly the CEO of PanCanadian Energy Corp., which later became EnCana Corp. after a merger with Alberta Energy Company Ltd. Mr. O'Brien stepped down as Encana's board chairman earlier this year.

He will be replaced by independent director Kathleen Taylor, the former CEO of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 3:23pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
A-N
Agilent Technologies
-1.26%145.51
BNS-N
Bank of Nova Scotia
+1.21%51.78
BNS-T
Bank of Nova Scotia
+0.94%70.07
NS-N
Nustar Energy LP
+0.74%23.27
RY-N
Royal Bank of Canada
+0.48%100.88
RY-T
Royal Bank of Canada
+0.29%136.62
S-N
Sentinelone Inc Cl A
+2.78%23.31
S-T
Sherritt Intl Rv
0%0.28
Y-T
Yellow Pages Ltd
-0.3%9.86

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