TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond to retire in June

TORONTO - TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond plans to retire at the end of June.

The prominent economic forecaster will be succeeded by TD's deputy chief economist, Craig Alexander, and Drummond will continue to work as an adviser to TD Bank (TSX:TD).

Drummond, 56, said he always planned to exit his role around this time, but added the recent financial and economic crisis added a dramatic cap to his career at the bank.

"I'm always a little bit sheepish with clients, particularly wealth management clients that suffered losses on their portfolios. But the last couple of years have just been a blast for an economist," Drummond said.

"It's kind of boring if everything is just growing flat at three per cent."

Drummond was born in Victoria and graduated from the University of Victoria with a bachelor's degree in economics. Afterwards, he earned a master's degree at Queens University in Ontario before joining the federal Finance department.

He remained a Finance bureaucraft for about 23 years, serving in various roles including assistant deputy minister of tax policy and associate deputy minister. He joined TD Bank as its top economist in 2000.

Drummond said he had always planned to retire from TD after serving for about 10 years, partly because of an actuarial penalty he would have paid in his public-sector pension plan.

"Being a little on the cheap side, it would've bothered me to have left an actuarial penalty behind, so I'm at the position right now where I have a full federal government pension I can draw," he said.

TD Bank chief economist Ed Clark said Drummond has had "a huge impact" on the bank.

"He turned a strong economics department into Canada's 'think-tank in a bank,"' Clark said in a release.

"TD's reputation for actively engaging in the issues that matter to Canadians is unique in the marketplace. That's a big part of Don's legacy - he's elevated TD's role in building a more prosperous country."

Drummond said while he doesn't have any definitive plans yet, he might entertain standing offers from various universities to advise the next generation of economists.