One Week Out of Bank of Canada, Poloz Lands Two Plum Board Seats

(Bloomberg) -- Former Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has wasted no time securing a new source of income.

One week after the end of his seven-year term, the 64-year-old economist has secured board seats at two of Canada’s largest public companies: pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. and technology services firm CGI Inc.

Public filings show the usual board retainers at the two firms total more than C$607,000 ($453,000) a year -- though Poloz will earn less at first because directors at both companies reduced their pay due to the pandemic. His final salary at the central bank wasn’t disclosed, but the maximum pay for the role was C$544,800 in 2017, according to the bank’s most recent report.

Montreal-based CGI on Tuesday touted Poloz’s “deep knowledge of financial markets, the global economy and international trade,” echoing Calgary-based Enbridge’s praise for his “expertise in global economics and public policy” in a board announcement.

It’s not uncommon for former central bank officials to join boards or the speaking circuit, cashing in after years in a high-pressure jobs under public scrutiny. What’s striking with Poloz, whose appointments to non-financial companies are acceptable under Canadian rules, is how quickly he jumped into the corporate world.

David Dodge, a predecessor, waited five months after the end of his tenure in 2008 to become a board direcor for Canadian Utilities Ltd. He later added others, including Bank of Nova Scotia -- where Tiff Macklem also became a director before he was named in May to replace Poloz.

Elsewhere, central bankers have joined the financial world after time had passed. Among them are former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who became a senior adviser to Pacific Investment Management Co., and Bundesbank’s Axel Weber, who was picked as UBS Group AG’s chairman.

Nothing seemed imminent when Poloz took questions from students in a May 25 videoconference. When asked about his future plans, he alluded to “a couple of things that look likely to happen” while making jokes about the ordeal of writing and selling a book.

Still, the new roles will likely leave him time for the one project he shared with them.

“I need to practice my golf game, because this job has really wrecked it,” he said.

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