MINNEAPOLIS, May 2, 2016 — RBC Wealth Management-U.S. today announced the appointment of Michael Armstrong to serve as its chief executive officer.
Armstrong will join RBC from Jefferies & Co., where he was the global head of wealth management. He replaces John Taft, who will retire from RBC on May 31 of this year.
Armstrong will lead the firm’s 4,700 employees from its headquarters in Minneapolis. He will report to Russell Goldsmith, the chairman and CEO of City National Bank, who was given the additional responsibility of overseeing RBC Wealth Management-U.S. when RBC acquired City National in November 2015.
“Michael is an outstanding and experienced leader with a highly diversified background in financial services, and he has an extensive track record of successfully leading investment and wealth management organizations,” Goldsmith said. “He has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to promote collaboration, grow revenue and earnings, and deliver improved performance.
“With Michael Armstrong as CEO and Tom Sagissor as president, RBC Wealth Management-U.S. will be able to enhance its capabilities for its clients and colleagues and achieve even greater success in the United States.”
Sagissor, a 22-year veteran of RBC Wealth Management-U.S., was recently named president of the company. His responsibilities now include leadership of the firm’s private client group, which manages more than $230 billion for clients in 41 states across the nation.
Armstrong joined Jefferies & Co. in 2014, as its global head of wealth management. Under his leadership, the firm grew its assets under management and its client base, expanded its product and service offerings, and attracted numerous teams of financial advisors.
Before moving to Jefferies & Co., Armstrong held several senior leadership positions at Morgan Stanley, where he worked from 1987 to 2012.
In 2006 and 2007, and then again in 2011 and 2012, he oversaw Morgan Stanley’s wealth management global capital markets business and helped it grow to more than $3 billion in gross revenue.
From 2008 to 2010, he was the global head of the company’s private wealth management division. There he oversaw a team of 2,100 people who served high-net-worth clients in the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
Armstrong previously worked in Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income division. During the three years that he was the division’s middle-market sales manager, revenues grew 40 percent and productivity increased 90 percent.
From 1995 to 1998, Armstrong led the equity division’s international prime brokerage unit in London and was responsible for technology, custody and clearing facilities.
Before that, he worked in Hong Kong as the chief operating officer of a regional enterprise that consisted of nine offices in 11 Asian countries.
Armstrong completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard.
Armstrong is expected to join RBC this summer.
In the United States, RBC Wealth Management operates as a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC. Founded in 1909, RBC Capital Markets, LLC. is a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and other major securities exchanges. RBC Wealth Management has $264 billion in total client assets with 1,900 financial advisors operating in 200 locations in 41 states. For more information about RBC Wealth Management-U.S., visit www.rbcwealthmanagement.com.
Nicole Garrison, RBC Wealth Management:612.371.2999 or nicole.garrison@rbc.com
Investment and insurance products offered through RBC Wealth Management are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, are not deposits or other obligations of, or guaranteed by, a bank or any bank affiliate, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.