WSJ names Canada bank reporter

Elena Cherney, the Canada bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff announcement on Friday afternoon:

We are delighted to announce that Rita Trichur will join the Journal’s Toronto bureau to take on the banking beat in Canada.

Rita comes to the Journal from the Globe and Mail, where she dominated coverage of the Canadian telecommunications beat. Before joining The Globe in late 2010, Rita reported on financial services and economics reporter for the Toronto Star. She also worked at the Canadian Press, Canada’s main wire service.

In both telecom and banking, Rita earned a track record of solid scoops. Her string of exclusives on the wireless industry included Verizon Communications Inc.’s flirtation with entering the Canadian market last summer. Canada’s big three carriers – Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. – lost billions in combined market capitalization the day the Globe’s story ran, and the companies launched a high-profile campaign aimed at limiting the sale of spectrum to a foreign entrant. When she covered financial-services, she scored exclusives on Visa Inc.’s entry into the Canadian debit-card market, which is dominated by the big five banks through a third-party entity, and on the federal government’s reform of credit-card regulations.

Rita, who grew up in the Toronto area, earned a B.A. in journalism and political science and an M.A. in Canadian studies, both from Carleton University in Ottawa. She is fluent in French.

In her new role, Rita will cover Canada’s five big banks, all of which have international footprints, and will also cover the country’s insurers. She’ll work closely with Toronto M & A reporter Ben Dummett, who also covers Canada’s pension funds and private-equity players, and with banking teams in New York and elsewhere to strengthen coverage of dealmaking and finance.

Please join us in welcoming Rita to the Journal.