Before COVID-19 hit, some of Canada’s largest independent investment dealers had been recruiting financial advisors actively and aggressively. Although the onset of the pandemic has had little impact on the level of this activity, how firms are recruiting advisors – and, in some cases, whom they’re targeting – has been affected significantly.
Traditionally, most firms’ advisor recruitment efforts include an in-person presentation in a boardroom, dinner at a high-end restaurant and a firm handshake to seal the deal. But firms have had to find alternatives with physical distancing in force in varying degrees across the country.
“This [situation] does force us to move left or right and dodge a little bit,” says Charlie Spiring, co-founder, chairman and senior investment advisor at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. in Winnipeg. However, he adds, “What we’re finding now is that the whole industry is uncovering a lot of firms’ weaknesses … We’ve [already] had two advisors move over to us right in the middle of the storm.”
Click here to read the full story originally published on The Globe and Mail on April 28 2020.
