The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that succession planning is emerging as a key theme for Canada's biggest lenders this year, particularly at TD Bank, according to a report from Jefferies Financial Group analysts. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post quotes Jefferies analysts saying in a note to clients: "Although we are not predicting a changing of the guard tomorrow, we believe CEO succession planning and the banks' senior executive management team bench strength could be focal points for the market in the very near term. On top of the list, in our view, is TD Bank and its current CEO Bharat Masrani." Mr. Masrani, 67, has been in the role for about a decade -- as have the chief executive officers at RBC and CIBC -- and is also the oldest among the leaders of country's five biggest banks. TD is dealing with a series of headaches south of the border after a U.S. Department of Justice probe into deficiencies related to its anti-money-laundering practices contributed to the bank abandoning a planned acquisition of Memphis-based First Horizon Corp. last year. "We believe Mr. Masrani could soon decide to call it a day and walk into the sunset for a well-deserved retirement," the Jefferies analysts wrote.