Canada was until this year one of the most lucrative investment banking markets in the world, powered by mining and energy deals.Gloria Nieto/The Globe and Mail
Stifel Nicolaus is shuttering its Canadian operations, costing about 60 staff their jobs in the first big retreat by a U.S. investment bank from Canada's suddenly quiet market.
Canada was until this year one of the most lucrative investment banking markets in the world, powered by mining and energy deals. As both have gone into the doldrums, firms are facing plunging revenue.
The Stifel decision takes effect Friday, though a transition team will be in place for a few more months, said a person familiar with the situation.
Stifel came to Canada with notions of building on a business that began as independent brokerage Westwind Partners. However, the Canadian operations only generated 1 per cent of the company's revenue.
The closure means the end of offices in Calgary and Toronto.
The retreat is the first major closure of a foreign brokerage in Canada in this downturn.
However, there has been a steady drip of downsizing in most firms, and earlier this year the small Canadian boutique brokerage Fraser Mackenzie shut up shop.