Royal Bank of Canada has announced details of another executive move this week.

The head of RBC Wealth Management in the US, John Taft, is to retire on May 31, Family Wealth Report can confirm.

Taft joined RBC when the company acquired Dain Rauscher in 2000 and became chief executive of RBC Wealth Management – US in 2005.

Today the company has almost 1,900 financial advisors in 41 states, and over $273 billion in assets under administration.

“John was a strong advocate of adding banking to RBC’s capabilities in the US which has been achieved with the completion of the merger with City National,” a spokesperson said. “He has personally been very involved with the planning and transition. Now with that process successfully launched and after 35 years in the financial industry and 15 years with RBC, he has decided it is the right time to pass on the CEO baton.”

The firm has not yet named a successor.

In November, Family Wealth Report spoke to Taft about the strategic rationale behind RBC Wealth Management's recent acquisition of City National Bank - see the article here.

In other news this week, Catie Tobin was named as head of RBC’s US wealth consulting division, succeeding Ward Ring, who is retiring at the end of January and spent the last 13 years of his financial services career at the company.

Tobin has spent the past 23 years at RBC Wealth Management, most recently as head of the firm’s correspondent and advisor services business, which provides clearing, custody and execution services to independent broker-dealers and RIAs.

Following Tobin’s move to her new role, Brett Thorne, who has been at the firm for 20 years, will take over as head of RBC CAS. Thorne most recently served as chief operating officer of the unit, overseeing administration, regulatory and financial risk management, as well as billing and reporting.