ScotiaMcLeod® 

Bespoke advice which considers everything before recommending anything 

For more than 100 years, we’ve built a reputation for outstanding service and trusted investment management advice, one client at a time. From our roots in 1921 as a trusted source of investment advice, ScotiaMcLeod has grown into a full-service wealth management firm with a team of experienced investment management professionals and a bold, distinctive culture of professionalism and integrity.

While remaining true to our century-old guiding principles, we bring Canadian investors the future of wealth management by offering proactive, informed investment advice, creative financial solutions and innovative approaches to protecting and growing your assets. 

ScotiaMcLeod Wealth Advisors are committed to understanding you and your financial vision and delivering personalized advice for all of your wealth needs through a disciplined approach to investment management. They have the knowledge and flexibility to offer highly customized family wealth management services and will develop, execute and monitor a portfolio created exclusively for you, designed to effectively manage risk and help you achieve your wealth goals.

Learn more about how a ScotiaMcLeod Wealth Advisor can help you develop an investment management strategy designed to manage risk, meet your financial goals, enhance what you’ve accumulated and transfer your assets to future generations.

Wealth management solutions made just for you and your family, business, and future 

At ScotiaMcLeod, we take a long-term, holistic view to investment management while managing risk. Dedicated to helping you reach your short-, medium- and long-term financial goals, we keep your needs at the centre of everything we do. 

We start by understanding you and your needs, financial goals, concerns, risk tolerance, tax situation, time horizon, liquidity, return objectives, and preferred level of participation. Do you prefer to be actively involved in investment management decisions, or do you prefer to set the overall course with your Wealth Advisor and delegate the day-to-day investment decisions and administration? 

No matter which investment management approach you choose, your Wealth Advisor will work with you to map out a personalized investment strategy based on a thorough assessment of your individual and family wealth needs. This personalized strategy will help guide how we manage your portfolio’s optimal asset allocation, investment mix and diversification.

Tell us how you envision your future, we’ve got an investment management service and solution for it 

From a long list of investment products and wealth management resources, your Wealth Advisor will work with you to carefully choose those that best meet your needs, ambitions, lifestyle, time horizon and risk tolerance. Our Wealth Advisors have access to the tools and resources to recommend the best investment approach to fit your needs. 

Depending on your life stage and financial goals, we can discuss the merits of a wide variety of investment accounts and options. These include equities, fixed income vehicles, Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs), Individual Pension Plans (IPPs), Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs), exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds (MFs).

Let’s look at how wealth management works at ScotiaMcLeod 

Keeping your individual and family financial goals at the centre, through a collaborative advisory approach, your Wealth Advisor will develop a disciplined investment management philosophy and integrated Total Wealth Plan. Together, you will determine the best approach and services to achieve your objectives and manage your portfolio in the context of your long-term wealth plan and goals. 

Once implemented, we will continually monitor the progress of your portfolio and adapt it as your life and goals evolve. 

We’ll communicate regularly to help you make informed decisions about your financial well-being, keep you informed about market trends that may affect your investments, meet regularly to review your needs and goals and refine our wealth management strategy to reflect your changing situation.

Choose your preferred level of portfolio participation

Active involvement with personalized, professional advice 

Participate in the investment management decisions that shape your portfolio while receiving research, insights and ongoing advice from your Wealth Advisor. Fees for wealth management services are charged differently depending on the platform.

Account options include:

  • Partnership Plus – A non-discretionary fee-based program geared towards clients who value the services of an Advisor but want to remain involved in the day-to-day investment management decision-making process. This program is best suited for clients who rely predominantly on their Advisor for advice. A quarterly fee covers consultation and advice, a limited number of trades commensurate with account size, and annual registered plan administrative costs.

  • i:Partner – A non-discretionary fee-based asset management program designed for clients who value the ongoing advice and guidance of an Advisor but want to be more actively involved in the day-to-day investment management decisions of their account. This program combines the features of a full-service and online brokerage account into one fee-based account that offers the flexibility of a full suite of online investment services.

  • The Pinnacle Program – A family of Scotia Wealth Pool Funds managed by leading names in institutional and pension fund management. Each money manager is selected and monitored by Northern Trust Global Asset Management, a leading investment management consultant. Fees are charged based upon the amount and type of assets managed in the account.

Moderate involvement portfolio programs 

Your Wealth Advisor can help you select from a broad range of investment management solutions offered by proprietary and third-party money managers to build and manage a portfolio to fit your unique individual or family needs.

These include:

  • The Summit Program – Asset management is performed on a discretionary basis, featuring highly skilled external money managers managing a wide variety of investment mandates. Each money manager is selected and monitored by Northern Trust Asset Management, a leading investment management consultant. A single wealth management fee covers investment management, ongoing due diligence and monitoring of the money managers and the investment mandates, custody, trading costs and detailed reporting.

  • ScotiaMcLeod Investment Portfolios – Asset management is performed on a discretionary basis by 1832 Asset Management L.Pand Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited, affiliates of Scotiabank. You benefit from experienced investment management with deeply rooted and rigorous risk management and compliance infrastructure. One all-inclusive fee covers investment management, ongoing due-diligence and monitoring, and custody and trading costs, and is calculated as a percentage of your portfolio’s total assets.

Discretionary investment management services 

  • The Managed Portfolio Program – A customized investment portfolio managed on a discretionary basis by an Advisor with specific portfolio management credentials. The Portfolio Manager will complete a personalized Investment Policy Statement that clearly outlines your investment objectives. A single wealth management fee covers investment management, monitoring, custody and trading costs.

This may be ideal if you prefer to delegate the day-to-day investment decisions to an experienced wealth management professional who has attained portfolio management credentials, giving you more time and freedom to focus on your family, career or other important pursuits. 

Speak with a Scotia Wealth Management professional today

A century of bold, distinctive culture drives us forward 

Our history 

In 1921, McLeod Young Weir was founded by four young investment entrepreneurs who established an environment of trust, teamwork, financial expertise and innovation. With 100 years of history, this cultural heritage has become a cornerstone of ScotiaMcLeod, and a source of pride for our Advisors who carry on our founding core values and entrepreneurial spirit as they deliver wealth management services today.

In February 1921, four young entrepreneurs – Donald Ivan McLeod, William Ewart Young, James Gordon Weir and John Henry Ratcliffe – started an investment management partnership called McLeod Young Weir Limited with just $40,000 in capital. 

Donald Ivan (D.I.) McLeod, born in Owen Sound, Ontario in 1886, was an avid painter and supporter of the Arts. He was a sketch partner to many of Canada’s most significant artists. 

William Ewart Young, the grandson of a Scottish settler who landed in Toronto’s Scarborough area. On McLeod Young Weir’s first day of operation, Mr. Young got busy on their only telephone making trading profits of about $650.

James Gordon Weir served in a WWI machine gun battalion and was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. His son, John Gordon Weir, became a famous WWII air force bomber, a POW, the mastermind behind the real-life “great escape” in 1943, and a spy. 

John Henry (Harry) Ratcliffe met McLeod, Young and Weir at A.E. Ames & Co. Although he was much younger than the other three men, Harry was highly respected for his good judgement on all things financial.

The McLeod Tartan 

The ScotiaMcLeod Tartan started as a clever way for McLeod Young Weir traders to stand out on the trading floor and has evolved into a symbol of ScotiaMcLeod culture, pride and Scottish roots. The bright yellow “loud McLeod” tartan represents our values: respect, integrity, honesty and loyalty. As part of Scotia Wealth Management, the people of ScotiaMcLeod are committed to a common goal – to provide exceptional wealth management and client service.

Our culture is driven by collaboration, powered by our Advisors

Collaboration at ScotiaMcLeod happens at all levels of the organization, and we’re proud of the many team-oriented initiatives that have been developed for and by our Advisors, which include:

  • Our ScotiaMcLeod Advisory Board (SMAB), a consultation board comprised of regional Advisors working with senior management to prioritize strategies. 

  • Our peer-to-peer best practice sharing. Every two years, ScotiaMcLeod Advisors host an Advisor-to-Advisor conference known as MAC (McLeod Advisor Conference) – an experience designed, run and paid for by Advisors. 

  • Our Share the Wealth Advisor-led program. This formal Advisor-led program encourages and celebrates employee involvement and community engagement. Funded by our teams’ philanthropic efforts, it implements the values of wealth distribution, active community participation and charitable involvement with organizations and programs that align with our goals and values. 

Driven to give back 

ScotiaMcLeod Charitable Foundation (SMCF). Established in 1987 to celebrate McLeod Young Weir joining Scotiabank, our Foundation proudly promotes philanthropy and recognizes ongoing community involvement and volunteerism. Each year, the ScotiaMcLeod Charitable Foundation contributes to registered charities across Canada. Charities are selected each year based on a peer-reviewed process. To learn more, visit scotiamcleodcharitablefoundation.org

Contributions to the Arts in Canada 

Today, the artistic spirit of D.I. McLeod lives on through our significant support of such notable events as the Scotiabank Photography Award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and Scotiabank Group’s Fine Art Collection, which invests in Canadian artists.