Toronto-listed Royal Bank of Canada’s US wealth management divisional head, John Taft, has been named chair-elect of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association for 2010.

Mr Taft will continue to lead RBC's US wealth management business while assuming this senior role with SIFMA, the bank said in a statement.

For the past year, Mr Taft has been the chair of SIFMA's Private Client Group Steering Committee, where has been involved in pressing for reform of the US financial regulatory system, lobbying for a new, harmonized federal fiduciary standard of care, among other initiatives.

Mr Taft recently testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services on behalf of SIFMA about the importance of creating a new, federal fiduciary standard for broker-dealers and investment advisors who provide personalized investment advice to individual investors.