Cardinal Capital launches Brandon branch

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This article was published 02/11/2019 (2349 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The recently opened Re/Max building on Richmond has a new tenant on its upper floor.

Cardinal Capital Management, headquartered out of Winnipeg, just opened a Brandon branch on Oct. 15.

However, the staff may seem familiar. Four out of five members of the team were employed by the local Investors Group until recently deciding to split off for this new venture.

The company offers portfolio and investment-management services, specializing in higher net-worth clients and institutions.

Leading the team is principal partner Rob Robinson, with Nonny Cancade as his second-in-command and Brandy Ingram and Jake Cullen rounding off the team. Miranda Hickman runs the front desk and greets customers.

Robinson worked at Investors Group for 26 years, Cancade for 20, Ingram for 10 and Cullen for three.

“Really, I think Cardinal and our team share a real entrepreneurial spirit,” Cancade said. “We wanted to be a part of a Manitoba homegrown company and the growth of that company.”

Cancade said his team was connected to Cardinal through a former colleague of theirs from Investors Group who moved on to the sports division of Cardinal, which manages investments for professional athletes such as NHL players and Olympians.

He indicated that Cardinal had been searching for a physical space to move into Brandon since 2012 or 2013, and the Re/Max building fit the bill.

“They already had probably about 100 clients and $100 million in assets under management in the Westman area,” Cancade said. “And so they were really looking for a space that would be appropriate.”

Out of respect for their former employers, Cancade said Cardinal is not trying to poach any clients away from Investors Group. However, he indicated that some former clients have reached out.

It’s just been more than two weeks since they opened, but Cardinal seems to have already been busy.

“I’ve been characterizing it to my friends and family as a fire hydrant through a fire hose,” Cancade said. “It’s a steep learning curve.”

He said that where his team used to make direct decisions for clients’ investments, at Cardinal they manage relationships with customers while letting the company itself take care of the investment decisions.

“We’re in the wisdom and relationship business,” he said.

The companies Cardinal chooses to invest their clients’ money in are chosen through a careful process and must meet a list of criteria in order to be suitable.

When asked who the ideal client would be for their services, Cancade said the company looks at investments through the lens of multiple generations of a family. Typically, he said, their clients have a higher-than-average net worth.

Robinson and Cancade also run a financial planning and insurance business out of the same space called Robinson Cancade Private Wealth Management. Cancade added he and Robinson also guide people through divorces.

The location is meaningful to Cancade: It’s in eyeshot of the business his family started nearly a century ago. He remembers playing in his grandparents’ yard, formerly located in the space the Co-op gas station currently occupies.

There are still vacant rooms in their office space, giving Cardinal room to expand in the future. Although, Cancade has ambition beyond just filling up their current space.

“I think in the next five years we’re hoping that we need more space,” he said.

There will be a grand opening celebration sometime in November, Cancade said, but details are still being worked out.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

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