National Bank of Canada Layoffs in Capital Markets Division

National Bank of Canada (National Bank), the country’s sixth-largest bank, has announced that it’s cutting several jobs in its capital markets business, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Overview of layoffs

In an effort to restructure and manage its business needs and priorities effectively, National Bank has slashed staff within the equity research and sales and trading divisions.

The specifics of the job cuts, such as the number of positions eliminated, have not been disclosed.

Spokesperson’s statement

Marie-Pierre Jodoin, a spokesperson for the Montreal-based bank, made a brief statement regarding the changes, referencing “a few adjustments to our Financial Markets structure based on the ongoing assessment of business needs and priorities.”

Trend of job cuts across Canadian banks

The job cuts at National Bank come at a time when several other Canadian lenders are also reducing workforce sizes, totalling at least 6,000 layoffs across various banks.

Prominent names like Bank of Montreal (BMO), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) have also announced significant layoffs, accounting for two to three per cent of their respective workforces.

LEARN MORE
• BMO closes retail auto finance business
• RBC slashing capital market jobs
• Scotiabank cutting 3% of staff to streamline

For the past three years, Canada’s large banks managed to avert massive job cuts. However, facing several revenue and capital pressures recently, banks are exploring avenues to minimize expenses.

This restructuring and job cut trend seems to align with banks’ strategies to conclude their fiscal years on a streamlined note by the end of October.

Termination agreements for National Bank employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at National Bank are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

People working “on contract” or as a contractor may also be owed severance pay — given that many employees in Canada are often misclassified as independent contractors.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

LEARN MORE
• Severance for banking industry employees
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance packages in mass layoffs

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.

In some cases, employers pressure staff into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.