BC Business
Canaccord Vancouver office | BCBusinessCanaccord Financial, based in downtown Vancouver, will reduce its number of Canadian branches and employees after a poor showing in the first quarter of 2013.
The Vancouver-based financial management firm will close down 16 of its Canadian offices and significantly reduce its staff. One of the pillars of downtown Vancouver’s financial district will see half of its offices shutter in the coming months.
One of the pillars of downtown Vancouver’s financial district will see half of its offices shutter in the coming months. Vancouver-based Canaccord Financial Inc., one of Canada’s largest independent brokerage firms, announced from Toronto after trading closed on Friday that it would close 16 “underperforming branches.” While a number of jobs will be obviously be terminated due to the closures, it wasn’t clear how many. According to Canaccord’s news release, once the closures are complete, the company will have 180 investment advisory teams across the country. However, the release doesn’t disclose specifically how many employees constitute a team or even how many workers Canaccord employs. The downsizing announcement comes after Canaccord released its first quarter results for fiscal year 2013, which showed a net loss of $20.6 million. Canaccord expects to rack up charges of $11.5 million in the second quarter for costs related to closing the branches and offering severance to affected employees. Sixteen of its offices will remain open across the country, mostly concentrated in major cities. While it’s likely their corporate headquarters on Granville Street will remain open for business, the announcement didn’t specify which branches would be shuttered.