The Globe and Mail: Troubled mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc. has chosen Yousry Bissada, a 57-year-old executive with experience in the mortgage industry, as its chief executive officer.
Since 2011, Mr. Bissada has been CEO of Kanetix Ltd., a firm that sources insurance quotes and helps financial services firms with digital tools. But he has also led a leading software provider to the mortgage industry, and has experience working inside big banks, including a brief stint as senior vice-president of real estate secured lending products at Toronto-Dominion Bank in the late 1990s.
Hiring a new chief executive was a crucial step in the company’s turnaround plan. After a crisis of confidence sparked a run on Home Capital’s deposits earlier this year, pushing Home Capital to the brink, a refreshed board of directors secured support from revered investor Warren Buffett, whose firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is now the largest shareholder. With Mr. Buffett behind it, the alternative mortgage lender began to see money from depositors flow back into the company.
The search for a new CEO was led by executive search firm Caldwell Partners International Inc.