Scotiabank’s head of capital markets to exit for CFO role at Desmarais firm

financialpost.com:

Bank of Nova Scotia said Jake Lawrence is leaving his role as chief executive of the lender’s capital-markets business to take a senior role at the Desmarais family’s holding company.

Lawrence will become executive vice president and chief financial officer ofPower Corp. of Canada, according to a statement from the insurance and investment empire that’s controlled by the billionaire Quebec clan. He’s replacing Gregory Tretiak, who joined the firm in 2012 as chief financial officer and had recently been on health leave. Lawrence, who’s been at Scotiabank since 2002, has been group head of global banking and markets for three years.

“I want to wish Jake every success as he joins another storied Canadian institution and a long-time client of Scotiabank,” chief executive Scott Thomson said in an internal memo, adding that Lawrence would “continue to be a friend to the bank.”

Michael Kruse will become global head of corporate and investment banking on an interim basis, Scotiabank said in a statement. He will join Paul Scurfield, who last month was promoted to global head of capital markets, in running the Toronto-based lender’s wholesale-banking and capital-markets business, with both reporting directly to Thomson.

In a separate memo to staff, Lawrence said he made the decision “with mixed emotions,” noting that he had spent his whole career at Scotiabank.

“This is not just a job for me — it’s a home,” said Lawrence, who will remain with the bank as a strategic adviser until March 15.

Lawrence was seen as a potential chief executive candidate and was awarded $1.5 million in restricted stock as a retention bonus after Thomson won the job in 2022. The shares vest in November.

Scotiabank has seen a steady turnover of top