Manel has been with the Bank since 2010, gaining experience across various departments before joining NBFWM's business development and recruiting team in 2021. She collaborates closely with wealth advisors to support their growth, deeply valuing their business objectives and prioritizing client needs. With a Bachelor of Business Administration from HEC, Manel is passionate about exploring different cultures, cherishes her family and dog, and appreciates the empowering and entrepreneurial environment at NBF.
Why join National Bank Financial?
At National Bank Financial (NBF), we work to bring wealth advisors from across the country together to help them achieve their business goals and build their success. We provide resources and solutions to the daily challenges of wealth management.
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Culture
Becoming a wealth advisor at National Bank Financial – Wealth Management (NBFWM) means combining the ambition of an entrepreneur with the support of one of Canada’s largest brokerage firms. We make this happen through reliable and sustainable partnerships between our leaders and advisors.
Teaming policy
We make every effort to help meet the needs of your clients, as well as stay committed to maintaining your entrepreneurial spirit. That’s why we leave you the freedom to choose your path while equipping you with the tools to achieve your goals.
“NBFWM is the best of both worlds: we offer our advisors the strength of a major bank, enabling them to stand out amongst the competition and meet the needs of today's clients. What's more, we offer an ultra-entrepreneurial environment and culture that allows advisors to manage their practice, their way.”
Jonathan Durocher
President of National Bank Financial – Wealth Management.
Simon Lemay
Senior Vice President, National Manager Quebec and Atlantic
Jennifer Plenert
Senior Vice President, National Manager Ontario
Patrice Cayer
Senior Vice President, National Manager Western Canada
The NBF Approach
Our entrepreneurial culture is rooted in our desire to support wealth advisors. That desire stems from our three main principles.
Sustainable partnerships
We strive to maintain meaningful and long-term partnerships by providing you with the support and autonomy you need to reach your goals. Want proof? Our advisors stay with us for an average of over 20 years.
Technology
We offer in-depth marketing tools, state-of-the-art software, advanced cybersecurity programs, and the full support of our IT experts to ensure your business stays running smoothly.
The best grid in the industry
We offer an efficient and lean business model where the costs and profits are shared. We also offer competitive benefits such as the highest total compensation in the industry.
Meet our Regional Managers
From coast to coast, meet our team of experts that can help you grow your business model into a success.
Contact our recruitment team
Manel Guizani
(in interim) Jennifer Plenert
Ontario
Jennifer Plenert joined NBFWM in 2011 as part of the Wellington West acquisition and has been an invaluable part of the team ever since. With her Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from the University of Winnipeg, she works with our wealth advisors to maximize revenue and productivity opportunities within the region. In 2015, she received the NBFWM Recognition Award thanks to her work in compliance in the Prairies. She’s now responsible for delivering results through sales management leadership in the Toronto area.
Tim Kocsar
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada
Since joining NBFWM in 2018, Tim has co-managed Alberta and the Okanagan, recruiting high-performing advisory teams, and since 2020, has attracted advisors across Canada. He helps advisors explore new possibilities to accelerate their practice goals and is fully invested in their transition to ensure success. Holding a Bachelor of Arts from Simon Fraser University and additional business credentials, including the Chartered Investment Manager, Tim values family time with his wife and two daughters, traveling, scuba diving, underwater photography, and tinkering with classic cars, while appreciating NBFWM’s unique culture and camaraderie.
Life as a female wealth advisor at NBFWM
Enjoy a supportive environment, flexible work model, attend exclusive events and much more when you join the NBFWM team.
Putting our advisors first
We take pride in fostering an inclusive work environment that allows our wealth advisors to reach their professional and personal goals.
Mentorship program
Help guide the next generation of women in finance with our mentorship program designed to provide hands-on experience with valuable workshops, webinars and networking opportunities.
Not a wealth advisor?
We’re looking for professionals of all backgrounds to help us build the bank of tomorrow.
About NBFWM
Because of our best-of-both-worlds offer, our wealth advisors, on average, have a 20+ year tenure with NBFWM. And that number is growing.
About NBC
National Bank of Canada is a bank with a human touch that forms,
along with its subsidiaries, one of Canada’s largest financial groups.
With more than 31,000 employees, we stand out for our boldness,
entrepreneurial culture, passion, and commitment to diversity.
Little details that matter
National Bank Financial - Wealth Management (NBFWM) is a division of National Bank Financial Inc. (NBF) and a trademark owned by National Bank of Canada (NBC) that is used under licence by NBF. NBF is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), and is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of NBC, a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA).
I feel like we differentiate ourselves with our best of both world culture. We have the backing of a big six Canadian bank at the same time. We're a little bit smaller. We're nimble, we're very entrepreneurial. We like to say that we're big enough to scale and small enough to care.
It's not the bank on one side and the advice on the other side. We collaborate together and we actually come up with good ideas together. We're there to support them so that they can cater better that our clients with over 850 advisors in a network. They all have different business models. So our job is to make sure to cater to all different business models and we're able to do this. And this is why we've been having so much success lately at attracting top quality advisors. I mean, ultimately the true partnership comes from the respect we have for what they do and how much they take care of their clients.
And that goes a long way. So the real culture, the entrepreneurial culture is not just something we say, it's something we actually believe in.
You know, we've grown a lot over the past couple of years, and the resounding answer is always culture. And we've mentioned culture a bunch of times already, but ultimately it really does come down to that. We love advisors. We love brokerage. One of the biggest things advisors mentioned is the fact that we have a real open door policy. We have a flat management structure. So whether it's advisors or associates, you have access to head office executives, to Simon or myself and all of the regional management team and you can tell that we care. And I think that really comes through in our policies, how we do business and ultimately our structure.
And people love it.
Our Net Promoter score is one of the highest on the street, and that comes because clients are happy with their advisors, because advisors are happy with the firm. This goes really a long way. Like I said, our business model is catered or built around the clients. We've managed to build an amazing infrastructure of an advisor council, so we have an advisor council with advisors from across the country sitting on our council. We get their feedback. Their feedback is valuable for us and this is how we make the decisions to build a future with them.
So we grow as our advisors grow. But we're doing this together into that true partnership that we have with them.