Wealth One owner Anthony Lacavera, right, with chairman John Webster in Toronto on July 2. Webster has stepped in as interim CEO after Paul Leonard's departure.Duane Cole/The Globe and Mail
Wealth One Bank of Canada has parted ways with its chief executive, Paul Leonard, shortly after new owners acquired the Toronto-based financial institution that was subject to a federal government divestiture order.
John Webster, a long-time financial services executive who became Wealth One’s chairman last month, has stepped in as interim CEO, Globalive Corp. said in a statement provided to The Globe Thursday.
CEO Paul Leonard is departing Wealth One Bank of Canada.Supplied/Wealth One Bank of Canada
“Wealth One remains committed to serving its customers and partners and maintaining the strength and stability of our operations. A search for a permanent CEO is under way and the bank thanks Paul Leonard for his efforts over the past seven years,” the statement said.
Mr. Webster has worked in financial services for decades and has held leadership roles at the Bank of Nova Scotia and served as president and CEO of Scotia Mortgage Authority, Globalive said.
Globalive Corp., a private company run by wireless-telecom entrepreneur Anthony Lacavera and a consortium of investors that includes Western Canadian property developer Ryan Beedie, closed their acquisition of Wealth One in early July after a lengthy regulatory review.
Calgary-based insurance financing company Grasslands Finance Corp. and its CEO, the co-founders of mortgage company Dominion Lending Centres Inc. DLCG-T, wealth-management firm Optimize Financial Group and Mr. Webster are also among the bank’s new shareholders.
Together, the group put up $58-million and acquired a 65-per-cent stake in the bank, with legacy investors holding the rest.
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Wealth One Bank, which was founded in 2016 with a $50-million investment and a focus on catering to Chinese-Canadian clients, was up for sale owing to an April, 2023, order from then-finance minister Chrystia Freeland requiring three of its original shareholders divest their stakes in the lender. The three men have faced federal scrutiny over their alleged links to the Chinese government.
Wealth One’s new owners hope to make the bank profitable by expanding within its existing business lines.
“You can’t make money until you’re at a certain scale,” Mr. Lacavera previously told The Globe, adding that the company will eventually introduce new technologies and capabilities, but only once it is solidly profitable.
Wealth One’s primary business is providing mortgages to new Canadians and entrepreneurs. The majority of its $516-million in assets are uninsured mortgages on residential real estate, although it also provides loans on commercial real estate and the cash surrender values of life-insurance policies. Its Schedule I licence allows it to accept deposits, which it strives to entice by offering high-interest savings accounts.