AMTD TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation

By Rita Trichur And Carolyn King 

TORONTO--Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's largest bank by assets, announced an executive shake-up on Tuesday that included the departure of one of its top executives and the replacement of its longtime chief financial officer.

The leadership shuffle comes about a year after Chief Executive Bharat Masrani took the helm at TD, which has one of the 10 largest banking operations in the U.S. Since taking the top job, Mr. Masrani has put his stamp on the bank by focusing on cutting costs and generating growth from digital channels.

As part of the changes, Tim Hockey, who currently heads the Canadian bank's domestic banking and wealth-management operations, will leave TD next year to become the top executive at its TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. affiliate.

The bank also said it had named Riaz Ahmed as chief financial officer. TD's long-serving financial chief, Colleen Johnston, will become group head of direct channels, technology, marketing, and real estate.

"I don't think you should take anything from these moves to suggest that there is a change in strategy at TD," Mr. Masrani said in an interview, adding the moves reflect the diversity of the bank's leadership team.

Over the past year, a number of Canada's big banks have made changes in key executive roles, including Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

"We believe the changes in reporting structure [at TD] reflect the need to focus on optimizing operations in the sluggish economic environment," said Brian Klock, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, in a note to clients.

"We view the loss of Tim Hockey and Colleen Johnston's transition from the CFO position as negatives given their extensive experience. However, we think the individuals named to succeed them demonstrate the quality and depth of TD's bench," Mr. Klock added.

Canadian banks are looking to manage costs as they grapple with slowing growth in their core domestic operations. For its part, TD has announced a review of operations and cut certain management jobs.

Mr. Hockey, 52 years old has been with the bank for more than 30 years. He will assume the title of president at TD Ameritrade on Jan. 2 from Fred Tomczyk. After a transition period, he will also take the title of chief executive when Mr. Tomczyk retires on Sept. 30 next year.

"We are not surprised at Mr. Hockey's departure given our long-held feeling that he had the ability to run a company in an executive capacity," Mr. Klock said. Before Mr. Masrani being named as CEO, industry observers had speculated that Mr. Hockey was also a contender for the top job at TD.

TD Ameritrade has seen its trading activity boosted lately by volatility in the global markets. Mr. Masrani declined to comment on whether TD planned to increase its stake in the discount brokerage, which stands at 41%.

TD said Teri Currie, who currently heads its direct channels, technology, marketing and people strategies, will take on the title of group head of Canadian personal banking at TD.

That appointment, like those of Mr. Ahmed and Ms. Johnston, will be effective Jan. 2.

TD Ameritrade's Mr. Tomczyk, 60 years old, joined the board of TD in 2006 after its acquisition of TD Waterhouse USA. He became operations chief in 2007 and was elevated to the CEO role in the fall of 2008.

Write to Rita Trichur at rita.trichur@wsj.com and Carolyn King at carolyn.m.king@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2015 17:10 ET (22:10 GMT)

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