Jon Davey: Why Scotiabank Bet on Canada's Indigenous Economy

For senior investment bankers, infrastructure fund managers, and institutional investors building a picture of Canada's Indigenous economy, understanding who is driving change inside the country's major financial institutions matters as much as understanding policy. This episode gives you direct access to one of those people.

Jonathan Davey is Managing Director of Indigenous and Government Advisory at Scotiabank's Global Banking and Markets division- the first role of its kind at a major Canadian bank. Haudenosaunee and a member of the Lower Cayuga Nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Jonathan spent a decade practising Indigenous law at Canada's Department of Justice before Scotiabank asked him to help build their Indigenous financial services practice. Most recently he spent a year working directly in the office of Scotiabank's President and CEO Scott Thompson before stepping into his current role.

In Part 1 of this conversation, Jonathan covers:

• His path from Indigenous law to capital markets - why he left the Department of Justice after a decade, what Scotiabank's pitch actually was, and how a mutual investment between banker and institution built something genuinely new
• What it means to work for the Crown as an Indigenous person - Jonathan speaks candidly about the weight of representing a federal government whose decisions have historically been injurious to his community, and why moving to the private sector gave him more room to create change
• A year in the office of Scotiabank's CEO - what Jonathan observed about leadership at the highest level of a major Canadian financial institution, and how Scott Thompson's approach to Indigenous relationships shaped the bank's direction
• Cedar Leaf Capital - how client demand from a single procurement-focused corporate client led Scotiabank to help establish Canada's first Indigenous-owned broker dealer, and why Jonathan considers it one of the bank's proudest achievements
• The collegiality driving Canada's Indigenous finance ecosystem- why practitioners across competing institutions, law firms, and advisory businesses are actively supporting each other's success

The key message for UK and European investors: the infrastructure of Indigenous participation in Canadian capital markets is being built right now, from the inside, by people like Jonathan Davey. This episode introduces you to how that happened and who is doing it.