Wealth One Bank of Canada Announces Paul Leonard as President and Chief Executive Officer

Toronto, October, 2020 -- Mr. Zool Samji, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wealth One Bank of Canada (WOBC), is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Paul Leonard as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

Paul joined WealthONE Bank as the Chief Financial Officer in 2018 and oversaw the bank’s financial operations. He quickly implemented process improvements driving business growth and financial gains across all lines of business.


Paul is an industry pioneer specializing in launching and growing Canadian retail ‘challenger’ banks and brings more than 30 years of banking and financial services industry experience to WealthONE Bank.


Prior to his arrival at WealthONE Bank, Paul was CFO of CFF Bank, a Canadian Schedule 1 bank that had approximately $245 million in assets and over $1.5 billion in loans under administration.


Earlier in his career, Paul was instrumental in growing the Ally Bank brand in Canada with savings, automobile loans and mortgage assets before Ally was acquired by RBC. Paul was also the founding Chief Financial Officer of ING DIRECT (since renamed Tangerine Bank), an innovator in offering direct to consumer savings and lending products.


“I am truly honored to lead our extraordinary Bank as the President and Chief Executive Officer,” said Paul. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with our exceptional senior leadership team, along with our entire board of directors and shareholders. Wealth One Bank has the most talented people. Together, we will capture the next waves of growth for Wealth One Bank by remaining laser-focused on serving our clients, creating significant value for our shareholders and providing the best career experiences for our people.”


The Board is honored that Paul has accepted this important mandate to lead WOBC. In addition, the Board wishes to thank Mr. Dashu (Jack) Zhu for his service as the previous President and CEO.