TORONTO – Home Capital Group director Allan Hibben says the mortgage lender is looking to speed up its search for a new CEO as it works to restore investor confidence following allegations by Ontario’s securities watchdog.
Hibben, a former Royal Bank executive who joined Home Capital’s board earlier this month, says the Toronto-based lender is hoping to complete what is normally a 12-to-20-week process in just eight weeks.
But Hibben says it’s a challenge because the pool of potential candidates – CEOs willing to step into troubled companies and work to turn them around – is likely not large.
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The company is also looking to recruit a new chief financial officer, although Hibben says the CEO should be in place first.
Hibben also says there will likely be more governance changes at Home Capital, which provides mortgages to borrowers who don’t qualify for a loan from one of the big Canadian banks.
Savers have been pulling their deposits out of the cash-strapped lender since the Ontario Securities Commission alleged last month that the company misled investors in its handling of a scandal involving falsified loan applications. Home Capital has said the allegations are without merit.