By James Langton

(January 16 – 14:30 ET) – Appearing at RBC the DS 2001 Financial Services Conference this morning, Rob Pitfield, executive vice president, wealth management at the Bank of Nova Scotia, outlined his firm’s strategy in the wealth management business.

Pitfield described the division’s reorganization into three business lines: retail brokerage, investment management and private banking. Despite this reorganization of the wealth management businesses, the firm is also making a point of not dividing the investment business from the banking business. Instead, Pitfield says it is focused on breaking down the silos between those businesses, because dividing them is “antithetical to the way customers views themselves”.

Making that work is easier said than done, however. Creating a more seamless integration between the services required plenty of re-engineering and reprocessing, says Pitfield.

He says Scotiabank has worked hard over the last 18 months to make its units market focused and prepared to make referrals. Both individuals and branches now receive compensation for referrals. Given the prominence of Scotia’s international banking presence, expanding its investment services into these markets is also part of the strategy.

Scotia’s vision, according to Pitfield is, “To be a recognized leader in wealth management, providing client-focused solutions and superior service. We will succeed through empowered people, who share this vision and are supported by effective technology, tools and processes.” The bank also maintains a goal to increase fee revenue as a share of wealth management revenue to 30% from 20% over the next three years.

In the longer run, Pitfield sees more discriminatory investment pricing. “There are lots of inefficiencies in pricing,” he says, noting that prices are too low in some cases for the high touch services that are provided, and too high in others. He sees a market move to bring cost down and provide products at lower cost, while maintaining, and perhaps increasing prices for higher touch services.

Ultimately, he says, “There is no magic bullet for client service, it just takes hard work.” He stresses that firms need to understand their businesses, their products and services, including what it costs to provide those services.

Slides from Pitfield’s presentation are posted on Scotiabank’s Web site in the investor relations section.