The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, June 7, edition that Canaccord Genuity Group has lost two investment bankers to National Bank Financial. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that Sanjiv Samant, head of technology, media and telecom (TMT) banking with Canaccord for the past six years, joined National Bank on Monday as group head of TMT. Brent Layton, a TMT banker who worked alongside Mr. Samant at Canaccord, has also left the firm for National Bank. Mr. Samant says: "What attracted me to the platform was the strong entrepreneurial culture and the strong partnership that they have. They [National Bank] have an independent mentality, combined with a full-service bank capability." A 20-year Bay Street veteran, Mr. Samant was among the independent's top producers. He started his career with CIBC World Markets in the mid-1990s. The loss of Mr. Samant is a blow for Canaccord. A number of its banking stars have left, too, including the departures of Phil Evershed and Barry Goldberg in early 2015. CIBC analyst Paul Holden says, "The loss of people, which represent the company's core assets, is perhaps the greatest business risk associated with a prolonged downturn."