The board of New York-and Canada-listed CIBC has selected its group head of wealth management, Victor Dodig, as the bank's next president and chief executive, effective September 15, 2014.

The board of New York-and Canada-listed CIBC has selected its group head of wealth management, Victor Dodig, as the bank's next president and chief executive, effective September 15, 2014.

Dodig, also senior executive vice president at CIBC, will replace Gerry McCaughey, who is retiring on September 15 this year. It is unclear if Dodig will retain his role as head of wealth management; Family Wealth Report has contacted the bank to find out.

“In addition to his broad understanding of the Canadian banking business, Victor has played an integral leadership role within CIBC retail markets and wealth management,” said Charles Sirois, chair of the board.

As group head of wealth management, Dodig is responsible for CIBC Wood Gundy, CIBC Investor's Edge, CIBC Private Wealth Management, Atlantic Trust and CIBC Asset Management, which includes CIBC's mutual fund company and investment management activities in Canada and the US. Under Dodig’s leadership, the unit has grown "significantly" through organic growth in Canada and through acquisitions in the US over the past three years, CIBC said. For example, the bank recently acquired Atlantic Trust and made a 41 per cent investment in American Century. (Meanwhile, CIBC's wealth management arm logged net income of $117 million for the second quarter, up $26 million or 29 per cent from the same period a year ago. The story wasn’t as good for the group as whole, having reported a decline in net income to $306 million, compared with $862 million for Q2 2013, and $1,177 million for the prior quarter - see here.)

Dodig began his career working in CIBC's branch system as a customer service representative, later rising through increasing levels of responsibility at CIBC to lead the bank's retail banking distribution and sales team from 2007 to 2011.

Prior to re-joining CIBC, Dodig was managing director and CEO in Canada for UBS Global Asset Management. Earlier in his career, he spent five years as managing director in Canada, the US and the UK for Merrill Lynch and Company, following three years as a management consultant at McKinsey and Company.

CIBC has three major business units: retail and business banking, wealth management and wholesale banking.

On December 31, 2013, CIBC completed the acquisition of Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management (Atlantic Trust) from its parent company, Invesco, for C$224 million ($210 million). Atlantic Trust provides integrated wealth management solutions for high net worth individuals, families, foundations and endowments in the US.

According to a report today in The Montreal Gazette, Dodig “sees room to grow in domestic banking while looking abroad for asset management and private wealth takeovers.”