CEOs of independent wealth management firms across Canada saw their salaries rise in 2021 as savings from the COVID-19 pandemic soared

The billions in COVID-19-related savings that have poured into Canada’s wealth and asset management industry have resulted in significant salary increases for many of its chief executives.

The top executives of nine independent companies in the sector saw their compensation increase by more than 40% on average in 2021, compared to the previous year. In dollar terms, that was an additional $1.8 million per executive, bringing the average salary to nearly $6 million.

The Globe and Mail analyzed the securities filings of nine investment management firms that disclose compensation information in shareholder proxy circulars or annual information forms.

Leaders of the wealth management divisions of Canada’s largest banks are not included in the Globe’s review because the banks do not name them among the highest paid executives in their annual disclosures.

CI Financial Corp.’s CIX-T Managing Director, Kurt MacAlpine, recorded one of the largest increases in total compensation, at $10.60 million, up more than 75% from 6, 01 million from the previous year. His annual cash bonus rose to $3.88 million from $1 million the previous year, while his stock awards rose to nearly $5.6 million from $4.2 million.

His annual salary rose to $1,125,000, up 40.6% from $800,000 in 2020.

Mr MacAlpine, who joined the firm in 2019, has embarked on a wave of acquisitions, buying up registered investment advisers, or RIA companies, in the United States at a breakneck pace, acquiring more than 25 since January. 2020.

The transactions transformed CI into a larger force in the US wealth management industry, with more than 50% of its revenue coming from its US and Canadian wealth management divisions.

Part of Mr. MacAlpine’s pay hike is attributed to increasing the company’s total assets by 66% while reversing the streak of net redemptions of CI mutual funds in its asset management division. In 2021, the company saw positive mutual fund sales for the first time in six years, with total net sales of $251 million, compared to $8.78 billion in redemptions the previous year.

CI said it set a target incentive bonus of $5.75 million for Mr. MacAlpine in 2021, and that gave him a score of 135% on the CEO scorecard of goals which included fund sales, asset growth, stock performance and profit targets. This resulted in an incentive bonus of $7.76 million, paid half in the form of an annual cash bonus and half in the form of shares.

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CF-T Dan Daviau of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. earned $13.02 million in his company’s fiscal year 2021 which ended March 31, 2021, up more than 70% from the 7 .66 million from the previous year. (Unlike the other companies surveyed, Canaccord’s fiscal year is off schedule; its disclosure for the 2022 fiscal year that ended March 31 will arrive this summer.)

Mr. Daviau’s annual bonus jumped to $6.95 million from $3.55 million a year earlier, while the value of his equity awards rose to $5.22 million from 3, $25 million the previous year.

In its circular, Canaccord says it compensates Mr. Daviau as the company’s CEO and as an “active producer of investment banking income and contributor to capital markets activities in Canada and the United States.” “. It targets its CEO’s compensation in the range of $1 million to $7 million and paid him at the top of that range during the year ended March 31, 2021, as Canaccord’s board of directors believed that “all measures had been exceeded, most by a significant margin, in an unusual and unprecedented environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. (The company’s shares jumped nearly 173% during the year.)

Canaccord said Mr. Daviau had earned $6 million from the company’s Capital Markets Incentive Compensation Pool for Canada – a “reduced” amount compared to what another Canaccord investment banker “with the same level of customer engagement” would have won.

Canaccord’s Stuart Raftus, who is chief administrative officer of the parent company and president of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, saw his total compensation more than double, to $6.03 million, thanks to a $3.16 million bonus. of dollars.

Canadian asset managers reported unprecedented investment fund sales in 2021. Mutual funds passed the $2 trillion mark in total assets, with record net sales of over $112 billion dollars for the year. The rise was nearly five times the industry’s net sales for the same period in 2020 – which totaled $23.6 billion, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

AGF Management Ltd. AGFMF, parent company of AGF Investments Inc., said CEO Kevin McCreadie earned $6.78 million, up 60% from $4.23 million a year earlier. His annual bonus of $2.88 million was almost double what it was for 2020, and he received stock and option awards valued at $2.53 million, up from $734,400 l ‘last year.

AGF Executive Chairman Blake Goldring earned $3.25 million, up nearly 60% from $2.06 million, thanks to a bonus of $2.01 million, nearly double her 2020 bonus. Judy Goldring, president and head of global distribution, earned just under $2 million, up more than 60% from 2020. Her $985,200 bonus for 2021 was more than double that of 2020.

IGM Financial Inc. IGM-T CEO James O’Sullivan earned $5.60 million in 2021 during his first full year as CEO of the company. IGM said that in 2020, after assuming the role of CEO, he received his 2021 stock options, valued at $1.2 million, in advance, suggesting a total compensation of $6.8 million in 2021.

At IGM affiliates, Mackenzie Investments CEO Barry McInerney earned $6.57 million, down slightly from $6.62 million in 2020. His bonus of $2.65 million was less than the 2020 annual incentive payment of $2.84 million. Mr McInerney announced his retirement earlier this year and will step down on June 30, handing over the reins to Luke Gould, IGM’s chief financial officer.

And at IG Wealth (Investors Group), CEO Damon Murchison earned $4.36 million, including stock and option awards worth $1.6 million, during his first full year of work.

Jeffrey Carney was Mr. O’Sullivan’s predecessor as CEO of IGM and concurrently served as CEO of IG Wealth. He earned $7.64 million in 2019, his last full year at both jobs. IGM paid $13.16 million to Mr. O’Sullivan and Mr. Murchison to fill the two roles.

The CEO of the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Guy Cormier, earned $4.37 million in 2021, up 37% from $3.19 million in 2020. His $1.53 million bonus dollars was up from $867,852 the previous year.

In an emailed statement, company spokeswoman Chantal Corbeil noted that Desjardins compares itself to cooperative financial corporations in setting compensation and that its ratio of CEO pay to its average worker is lower. to that of the major Canadian banks.

Denis Ricard of Industrial Alliance and Kish Kapoor of RF Capital, the parent company of Richardson Wealth, were two CEOs who saw their total compensation drop by double digits.

Mr. Ricard earned $5.99 million, down more than 13% from $6.90 million in 2020. The drop was caused by a smaller number for the annual increase estimate from his pension – $2.44 million, compared to $3.68 million in 2020. Excluding these estimates, Mr. Ricard earned $3.54 million, up nearly 10% from 2020.

Mr Kapoor earned $2.71 million, down nearly 13% from $3.10 million in 2020. His bonus of $979,120 was lower than $1.50 million in 2020, but a share award helped offset part of the decline.

Richardson Wealth has more than 160 investment advisers and over the past two years has implemented a restructuring plan that began with GMP Capital – which was renamed RF Capital Group Inc. – selling its capital markets division in 2019 and becoming solely a wealth management business. .

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