One of the world’s largest accounting firms is hiring its first-ever chief economist in Canada, the latest sign that financial-services firms feel the pressure to evolve for a new era.
Deloitte LLP, one of the Big Four accounting firms, is adding Craig Alexander to its ranks to produce macroeconomic research on trends affecting businesses and the broader Canadian economy. Mr. Alexander is well-known on Bay Street after holding the same title at Toronto-Dominion Bank and, more recently, at the Conference Board of Canada.
Although Deloitte is best known for its accounting roots, the firm has been branching out of late. The exponential growth of artificial intelligence threatens the more menial audit services that accounting firms used to specialize in, so Deloitte has been repositioning itself as a “professional services” firm that touts its consulting and financial advisory services. Offering economic insights is an extension of the latter.
The goal, Deloitte Canada chief executive Frank Vettese said, is “to be the kind of firm that disrupts ourselves before the environment disrupts us.”
Mr. Alexander’s hire also serves another purpose. A number of Canadian financial-services firms have signalled that they would like to have a louder voice on public policy matters – notably Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia – and Deloitte is just as keen to weigh in.
Before hiring a chief economist, Deloitte brought on Zabeen Hirji, RBC’s recently retired chief human-resources officer, as a global adviser to consult on the future of work – which includes everything from diversity issues to retraining in the digital age.
And last October, Deloitte hired former governor-general David Johnston as an executive adviser based in Ottawa, taking a page from the playbooks of law firms, which typically bring on former premiers and prime ministers once they are out of office.
That Mr. Alexander is the latest hire in this push is rather fitting, because he spent more than a decade at TD Bank, much of that time under former chief executive Ed Clark. Mr. Clark had worked on Bay Street and in federal politics throughout his career, and under his leadership he transformed the bank’s economics department into something that looked more like a policy think tank. During this era, Don Drummond, TD’s then-chief economist, led the push. Mr. Alexander was his deputy.
Lately, TD has taken a step back from this role, but RBC and Scotiabank have shown they are eager to step up.
In January, 2015, RBC hired former Globe and Mail editor-in-chief John Stackhouse into the Office of the CEO, and the bank’s economics team now reports to him. On the public-policy front, RBC is currently pushing its Future Launch initiative, which is designed to help train young Canadians for the digital economy.
At Scotiabank, CEO Brian Porter brought in new leadership for the bank’s economics team, which is now run by Jean-François Perrault, whose career has spanned Canada’s federal government, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Lately, Scotiabank has been a leading voice on negotiations to revamp the North American free-trade agreement.
Within Deloitte, Mr. Vettese has already championed workplace diversity issues, and in 2016 he was named an Honours Champion by Catalyst Canada, which promotes workplaces that work for women. Mr. Vettese has also written candidly about white privilege in the workplace.
The goal now is to expand this leadership to other realms, such as AI, cybersecurity and digital disruption. “We remain committed to the traditional services we offer,” he says, referring to the likes of audit and tax, but as part of the firm’s evolution, “we really try to see ourselves as a convener of these topics.”
Tim Kiladze