(Bloomberg) — Royal Bank of Canada fired its Chief Financial Officer Nadine Ahn after an internal review concluded that she was in an undisclosed close personal relationship with another employee that violated the bank’s code of conduct. 

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

RBC Fires CFO Ahn After Probe Into Personal Relationship Back to video

Katherine Gibson, a long-time Royal Bank employee, was named interim CFO and a search will be held for a permanent replacement, the bank said in a statement Friday evening.

The bank said it was “recently made aware of allegations involving Ms. Ahn and immediately launched an internal review and engaged outside legal counsel to investigate.”

“The investigation found evidence that, in contravention of the RBC Code of Conduct, Ms. Ahn was in an undisclosed close personal relationship with another employee which led to preferential treatment of the employee including promotion and compensation increases.”

Both Ahn and the other employee, who wasn’t identified, were terminated, the bank said in the statement, which noted that the CFO was fired earlier Friday. Royal Bank spokesperson Gillian McArdle declined further comment. Ahn couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.   

“The investigation found no evidence of conduct by the former CFO or the other employee with respect to the bank’s previously issued financial statements, RBC’s strategy or its financial or business performance,” according to the statement. 

Read More: RBC Promotes Nadine Ahn to CFO, Expands McLaughlin’s Role

Ahn joined Royal Bank in 1999 and worked in a series of treasury, risk, investor relations and other financial roles before being named CFO in September 2021. At the time, she was the only female CFO at any of the Big Six Canadian banks, though Marie Chantal Gingras was since named CFO at National Bank of Canada.

Ahn, who is in her early 50s, is a chartered professional accountant and graduated with a business degree from the University of Toronto in 1994, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

She earned C$4.1 million ($3 million) in direct compensation in fiscal 2023, including C$650,000 in salary and more than C$3.4 million in bonuses and stock awards. That was up about 25% from the prior year. 

Royal Bank’s annual proxy circular states that if one of its top executives is terminated for cause, the bank won’t pay severance and the employee could also forfeit various other bonus awards. 

(Updates with further details beginning in fifth paragraph)