Scotiabank is the best Canadian Based International Bank. We got there with strong corporate leadership. Thomas Fyshe, H.C. McLeod, H.A. Richardson, and Sir George Burn are four examples of top executives who built a great bank and then gave it to us to run.

Thomas Fyshe

Thomas Fyshe, Scotiabank Cashier (Chief Operating Officer), 1876 – 1897.

Thomas Fyshe was arguably the most colourful character to run The Bank of Nova Scotia. Possessed of a strong personality and caustic wit, Fyshe was known for his pithy and straight-forward writing style.

A good example is the communication sent to a colleague in Kingston, Jamaica: "Business is quiet. Money abundant. Exchange hardly moving. Weather magnificent. Your dog is dead - poisoned."

Fyshe served as Scotiabank's Cashier (Chief Operating Officer) from 1876 to 1897. His appointment was celebrated by the statement that "The Bank now had at its helm a man who by sheer ability and force of character ranks as one of the outstanding bankers in Canadian history."

Fyshe's 21 year tenure covered a difficult period in the economy of the Maritimes. While other Banks failed, Scotiabank prospered. Under Fyshe's careful management Scotiabank was transformed from a local maritime bank into the international organization it is today.

Under Fyshe's leadership Scotiabank:

• Expanded into Prince Edward Island when it opened a branch in Charlottetown in 1882, and then strengthened its presence in PEI by amalgamating with the Union Bank of Prince Edward Island in 1883;
• Opened branches in Winnipeg (1882), Minneapolis (1885), Chicago (1892), Montreal (1888), Jamaica (1889), and Newfoundland (1894);
• Increased the number of Scotiabank branches from 9 to 32, nearly tripled shareholders' equity, and raised the total assets from $3.5 million to $15.1 million, all between 1876 and 1897.

One of Scotiabank's early innovators, in 1888 Fyshe introduced one of the first staff pension plans in North America.

Fyshe was a man of action and nowhere is this better illustrated than by his rescue of a drowning child in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Times reported that:

"Suddenly Mr. Fyshe leaped from the carriage, jumped into the stream and set out with long, strong strokes for the spot where the child had disappeared. He reached the place just as the little head came above the water and turning, towed the lad back to shore while the crowd cheered. A little later and the lad could have been beyond the aid of man.

When the swiftness of the current, the nearness of the falls and the fact that Mr. Fyshe made the dive attired in street costume is taken into consideration, the real bravery of the deed can be appreciated. The gentleman had a lighted cigar in his mouth when he attempted the feat, and wore a silk 'plug' during the entire performance, and so ably did he conduct himself as to not extinguish the weed or disarrange the hat"

Thomas Fyshe married Avis Leonowens, daughter of Anna Leonowens - the Anna of Anna and the King of Siam and the musical The King and I. Anna, a strong personality in her own right, lived happily in the Fyshe household and was an admirer of the amazing Mr. Fyshe.

H.C. McLeod

H.C. McLeod, Scotiabank General Manager (Chief Operating Officer), 1897- 1910.

Henry Collingwood McLeod, known to his colleagues as H.C., succeeded Fyshe as Scotiabank's skipper in 1897. In his private life H.C. was revered for his yachting prowess. In 1899 he designed the Minota as a contender for the Canada Cup, an achievement that earned him a life membership in the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC).

In 1900 he sailed the Gloria from Halifax to Toronto. The RCYC subsequently barred the Gloria from competition because she was too fast. In 1909 his yacht Amorita won the New York to Bermuda race.

H.C. was used to be being ahead of the competition in his professional life as well. When Fyshe decided to enter the American market he chose McLeod to initiate operations in Minneapolis in 1885, and then to move them to Chicago in 1892. When McLeod succeeded Fyshe in 1897 he continued his predecessor's moves to expand Scotiabank's horizons: west to Edmonton in 1903, a year later to Vancouver and Calgary, and to Saskatoon and Regina in 1906; south to Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago in 1906, and to five new locations in Jamaica between 1906 and 1908. Eastern Canada was not neglected either with significant expansion in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.

His most important step, however, came in 1897 when he recognized Toronto's destiny as the financial capital of the young nation and opened a branch there. Three years later he moved Scotiabank's General Office Staff to Toronto.

H.C. McLeod also continued Fyshe's innovative spirit through his efforts to reform banking practice. His first major accomplishment was the introduction of the Unit System of Work, the first cost analysis done by a Canadian bank. Then in 1906 Scotiabank became the first Canadian bank to have external auditors verify its financial statements.

McLeod's campaign for external bank inspection was inspired by the nine major Canadian bank failures that occurred between 1895 and 1910. McLeod's views alienated him from his colleagues in other banks as well as from politicians in Ottawa. Nevertheless, his campaign was successful as his vision formed the cornerstone for reforms entrenched in the Bank Act revision of 1923.

H.A. Richardson

Fyshe and McLeod provided Scotiabank with a solid base throughout Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. However, it was McLeod's successor, H.A. Richardson who established Scotiabank as a national institution with a major international footprint.

H.A. Richardson, Scotiabank General Manager (Chief Operating Officer) from 1910 to 1923, seated on the running board.

When H.A. Richardson was appointed General Manager (Chief Operating Officer) in 1910 he realized that Scotiabank, like all Canadian banks, would have to get bigger to survive in the rapidly expanding Canada with its increasingly diverse economy. However, proper premises in frontier areas were prohibitively expensive or non-existent, and qualified staff were scarce.

A true "people person" with a tough core, Richardson chose the path of negotiation to ensure Scotiabank's survival. During his tenure as Scotiabank's General Manager (1910 - 1923), Richardson negotiated three major amalgamations: The Bank of New Brunswick, the first bank in Canada to be established under a charter in 1820, was amalgamated in 1913; The Metropolitan Bank, established in 1902, was amalgamated in 1914; and The Bank of Ottawa, which grew from its Ottawa Valley start in 1874 west to the Pacific Ocean, was amalgamated in 1919.

Scotiabank's record of growth during Richardson's 13 years in charge is truly remarkable:

• Total assets increased from $53.5 million to $227.8 million
• The total number of branches increased from 97 to 306, making it the fourth largest bank in Canada;
• 10 new branches in Newfoundland;
• 4 new branches in the British West Indies;
• 3 new branches in the Dominican Republic;
• 2 new branches in Puerto Rico;
• 2 new branches in Cuba;
• an office in London.

Sir George Burn

Sir George Burn, General Manager of The Bank of Ottawa, 1880 - 1917

When Scotiabank amalgamated with the Bank of Ottawa in 1919, it acquired 300 new branches (the 2 banks overlapped at only 11 points). The man responsible for the development of this network that extended from the Ottawa valley to the Pacific Ocean was Sir George Burn.

Sir George Burn was the Bank of Ottawa's General Manager from 1880 to 1917. In other words he ran the Bank for all but the first six and the last two years of its existence.

The Bank of Ottawa was founded by Ottawa Valley lumbermen, and Sir George was a career banker they chose to run it. Born in Scotland, he came to Canada in 1866 and served the Royal Canadian Bank and the Exchange Bank before joining the Bank of Ottawa. A most astute banker, he served with distinction on the Central Committee of the Canadian Patriotic Fund and performed the arduous task of being President of the Canadian Bankers' Association (CBA) during WWI.

These two responsibilities were connected because in the absence of a central bank, the President of the CBA was required to act as an intermediary between the chartered banks and the federal government during the War. Sir George was knighted for this service to his adopted country in 1917. Sir George and his family also played a major role in various community organizations in Ottawa.