Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is having to revamp its equity capital markets division again after the longest-serving co-head of the business quit.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is having to revamp its equity capital markets division again after the longest-serving co-head of the business quit.
Scott Smith, the co-head who had been in charge of syndication of stock offerings, has left and is said to be heading to Bank of Montreal's capital markets arm.
Mr. Smith's decision to depart comes not long after the firm parted ways with the other co-head, Dan Nowlan, who had been running origination in equity capital markets.
The result is that a new leadership team is now running the business of generating stock offerings at a time when CIBC is struggling in the business. Benoit Lauze, a Montreal banker who has moved to Toronto and to step in for Mr. Nowlan, is now running all of equity capital markets. Joe Kostandoff gets the head of syndication role, while Tyler Swan is now head of execution.
CIBC's equity capital markets division was once a regular challenger for top spot in the rankings of banks leading new stock offerings, but in recent years has slid down the tables. In the most recent year, it finished fifth, behind the capital markets arms of Canada's other four big banks.