RBC fires female CFO Nadine Ahn over secret relationship with employee who received promotions and bigger pay

• The decision to fire Nadine Ahn followed an internal investigation into a relationship she had with a colleague 
• Ahn was appointed to her now-former role at Canada’s largest bank in 2021, making her at the time, the only female CFO at any of the country’s Big Six banks

Royal Bank of Canada fired its chief financial officer after she failed to disclose a personal relationship with  a colleague who reportedly received promotions and raises as a result of the connection.

Nadine Ahn’s employment was terminated Friday, along with the individual with whom she’d had a relationship, though their identity was not revealed.

Canada’s largest bank paid Ahn some $3million USD in fiscal 2023, a figure that represented a 25 percent salary increase from the year prior. 

At the time she was appointed in 2021 to her now-former role, Ahn was the only female CFO at any of the Big Six Canadian banks.

RBC said it became aware of ‘allegations’ against Ahn, which prompted an investigation that found she had violated the bank’s code of conduct by engaging in an ‘undisclosed close personal relationship with another employee which led to preferential treatment of the employee including promotion and compensation increases.’

The bank conducted an internal review, in addition to retaining legal counsel. 

The institution added there was no evidence of any type of financial misconduct identified during the investigation.

Prior to being appointed the CFO, Ahn, who is in her early 50s, was the head of wholesale finance investor relations at RBC.

She first joined the bank in 1999 and worked in a series of financial roles before being appointed CFO.

According to RBC’s official annual statement to its investors, if a top executive at the bank should be terminated for cause, they won’t be paid severance and the employee may also forfeit other bonuses.

The bank appointed Katherine Gibson as its interim CFO, as a replacement search gets underway.

Gibson has been at RBC for two decades and mostly recently served in the role of Senior Vice President, Finance & Controller, a role that included oversight of the board reporting process and management of the bank’s accounting policy and financial management systems. 

The Sunday Times reports it is much rarer for a powerful female executive to lose her job due to an undisclosed relationship than it is for male executives to meet the same fate.

Last year, the former CEO of BP, Bernard Looney, was fired for failing to disclose personal relationships he had with employees.

The oil giant managed to claw back some $40million in remuneration from Looney, after it concluded that he had knowingly misled the board about several personal relationships with colleagues.