PH&N Sells Out

The investment community, especially here in Vancouver, was shocked by the news that PH&N had been purchased by RBC. The usual promises were made about no offices being closed, no staff losing jobs, etc. Well really, who believes that anymore. RBC said exactly the same thing in the early 1990's when they took over Royal Trust. Look how well those promises were kept.

We were fed the same nonsense about why the move was contemplated to begin with - "our clients demanded it." These would perhaps be the same clients who chose PH&N to begin with precisely BECAUSE they were small, BECAUSE they were independent, BECAUSE they were a boutique firm, BECAUSE the service was personal, BECAUSE the statements and tax slips arrived faster than any other financial institutions, etc. Who is PH&N kidding? Private clients and institutional clients alike had the choice of investing with RBC well before this decision was made and chose not to.

PH&N clients will now have to get used to RBC driven initiatives such as marketing, being cross-sold every conceivable product under the sun, telephone calls that require you to press 1 for this, 2 for that, slower statements, the high probability of additional fees on investment and retirement accounts and branch staff who have no clue what PH&N is all about.

Or not. Thank goodness we still have independent choices such as Leith Wheeler and Steadyhand.