John Taft, chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada's Voyager Asset Management group and head of the bank’s Dain private wealth management unit, is expected to be appointed chief executive of RBC Dain Rauscher, the Minneapolis-based private client brokerage firm, according to local press reports. The 143-branch brokerage’s present chief executive, Brian Peters, is leaving the firm to return to Canada after running it since May 2003. An internal memo said that Peter Armenio, RBC's Group head for international business is in the process of appointing a new chief executive and will make an announcement shortly. RBC Dain’s base is in the mid-west of the US beyond which it has been trying to expand, although it has, at the same time, been losing brokers. Formed in 1997 when Minneapolis's Dain Bosworth merged with Dallas-based brokerage Rauscher Pierce Refsnes, the firm had 2,100 brokers when RBC bought it four years ago. Although it has bought several other regional firms, including Boston-based Tucker Anthony Sutro, it now has only 1,700 brokers spread among 40 offices throughout the US. Industry commentators say that the firm lacks name recognition among US investors and a coherent strategy for generating profit. It has not made an effort to convert its brokers from commission-oriented sellers of stocks and bonds to marketers of fee-based products. RBC is expected to drop the Dain Rauscher name a within a year as part of a plan to unify national branding in the US.