Home Capital hires chief financial officer

Ex-Canaccord Genuity CFO is tapped for senior role at embattled mortgage lender

Home Capital Group Inc. is continuing to rebuild its executive ranks with the hiring of a new chief financial officer who has extensive experience in Canada’s financial services industry.

The Toronto-based company said Tuesday that Brad Kotush, a former CFO at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., will join the alternative mortgage company as of Sept. 1.

Kotush joined a predecessor firm of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. in 1996 and became its chief financial officer in 2006, a position he held until he left in February. His resignation from Canaccord Genuity was announced last November.

At Home Capital, an alternative mortgage lender that has been through a tumultuous year, the role of chief financial officer has been filled on an interim basis since former CFO Robert Morton was reas- signed last April.

Morton was one of three senior executives to be reprimanded by the Ontario Securities Commission this month after they reached a “highly negotiated settlement” that included $11 million of payments by the company and three men to a $29.5million fund for shareholders covered by a related class-action suit.

Besides the financial penalties, the OSC barred retired Home Capital chief executive Gerald Soloway, his immediate successor Martin Reid and Morton from being an officer or director of a public company for specified periods.

The appointment of Kotush to Home Capital’s senior management team was announced by Yousry Bissada, a veteran of Canada’s mortgage industry, who became the company’s chief executive officer earlier this month.

Prior to that, Home Capital got a vote of confidence from famed American billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is investing in the company and providing much-needed funding.