Nichola Saminather

TORONTO (Reuters).-The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said Thursday it will increase its U.S. investment banking team. According to separate memos, Reuters also saw an announcement that increased wages would be implemented starting in July for most of the merit-eligible employees.

Canada’s fifth largest bank has added four American directors to its core investment banking team, which now includes 100 members.

Rutuja Jagtap is now the executive director for New York. She previously worked at Mizuho covering renewables, energy transition and other topics.

David Janashvili (Neil Davids), David Yeh and David Janashvili are the managing directors. They join from BNP Paribas in New York and Canaccord Genuity. All three have prior experience with energy transitions and renewables. Yeh is a climate investor who was a senior adviser in the Obama administration. He will now be based at CIBC’s San Francisco branch.

The expansion comes even as investment banks and other firms in the U.S. slow hiring https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-hiring-freeze-layoffs-investment-banks-IPO-stall-2022-5 as concerns about inflation and a tight labour market.

Separately, CIBC announced that its minimum entry wages will be increased to $20 an hour in Canada and the U.S., in each currency. It is currently $17 and will rise to $25 by 2025. The memo stated that the base salary will be increased by 3% at all six levels of employees.

In a memo, CEO Victor Dodig stated that these investments are based on our steady and strategic investments. He also said that they continue to make competitive payments… especially at a time where the cost of living is increasing.

CIBC’s quarterly profit forecasts were missed last month, partly due to higher expenses resulting from strategic initiatives in the U.S. as well as employee compensation. But, the bank stated that it expects spending to decrease in the second half.