Former federal finance minister Bill Morneau to join CIBC board of directors Monday
TORONTO — Bill Morneau will join Canada’s largest bank as a director of Canada’s biggest bank, CIBC, on Monday.
Morneau will be replacing Richard Peck, who was removed as leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives last week and forced to step down after a CBC investigation revealed he had a conflict of interest.
The scandal comes as a wave of scandals hit the Canadian banking sector, including the $2-billion theft of personal information from the brokerage accounts of almost 300,000 customers.
Morneau is also the former chief executive officer of Morneau Shepell, Canada’s largest brokerage firm, which is now part of the Bank of Nova Scotia.
He will become a director of CIBC this summer, replacing David McKay, a prominent Wall Street bond dealer.
Morneau has been on an indefinite leave of absence from Morneau Shepell for five weeks to deal with the fallout from his dual roles at the same firm, as well as the recent CBC report.
“Mr. Morneau has a deep and personal interest in helping to restore public confidence in our financial sector,” said CIBC CEO Mark Carney.
Carney had previously urged the former head of the Bank of Canada to resign after the findings of the CBC report led to the resignation of three former provincial finance ministers from their roles at the central bank.
CIBC also said it would investigate Morneau’s actions at the brokerage firm, which has suspended him from his role, and said it would not accept clients who have been affected by the revelation.
It also said it would review policies related to staff disclosure and make changes to ensure its clients and the public have confidence in the bank.
Morneau has made no apologies for his dealings with CIBC, his former employer.
In an interview published last week, Morneau spoke candidly about his personal investment in securities markets and the ethics of his decisions while he was chief executive officer of Morneau Shepell.
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