Whyte leaves AIC

(March 16, 2005) Less than a year after joining AIC, David Whyte has left his position as executive vice-president at the Burlington, Ont.-based fund company.

Whyte resigned on Tuesday, an AIC spokesperson confirmed. No replacement has been announced.

The industry veteran left AIM Trimark last summer and came to AIC in the fall, with a mandate to re-connect with advisors, boost the company’s wholesale and marketing team and help turnaround a lengthy run of net redemptions.

Outflows at AIC reached nearly $400 million last month, according to Morningstar Canada. Its largest single source of outflows was the AIC Diversified Canada fund, with net redemptions of $139 million.

The company, founded by Michael Lee Chin, has endured more than three years of redemptions and has seen its assets shrink to $10.4 billion from $12.8 billion last year.

In January, Whyte — who led AIC’s sales and marketing team — told ADVISOR Group executive editor Darin Diehl that chief investment officer Jonathan Wellum and Chin had done an “amazing” job of rebuilding the investment department and the firm was well-positioned to do “good things on the investment side of the business.”

“2005 for us is all about re-building the relationships, making sure we do the basics very well, and making sure people understand what they are getting when they look at AIC,” Whyte said in an interview in the first issue of Advisor’s Edge Report.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, doug.watt@advisor.rogers.com

(03/16/05)

Doug Watt