In her 2009 statement to shareholders in the Scotia Bank Group annual financial report, Anya Schnoor, CEO of Scotia DBG Investments Limited, was in an ebullient mood.

“The year ended October 31, 2009 was an exceptional year,” she wrote.

The company ended the year with net profits of $2.129 billion. That outstripped the $1.239 billion earned 12 months before.  Earnings per share jumped 72 percent, from $2.93 in 2008 to $5.03 a year later. And the good news didn’t stop there. Schnoor announced that the company’s funds under management increased by 12 percent, from $65.9 billion to $74 billion.

“With these financial results your company firmly established its No.1 position in the local securities dealer market,” Schnoor told shareholders.

Those results were good enough to land Schnoor, as  the No. 2 in “The List” of Top 10 CEOs, a drop from her top ranking a year before. However, the company’s success didn’t come easy given the stiff local competition and an uncertain business climate.

“The turmoil which started in the global markets last year continued into this financial year and created an environment of increased foreign exchange instability as well as heightened interest rates,” she warned shareholders.

Amidst the turmoil, however, Schnoor found reasons to be optimistic.  During the second half of the year, the local market stabilized and interest rates fell as the Jamaica Central Bank moved to stimulate the economy.

“This period of relative stability allowed your company to take advantage of wider interest margin spreads and improved efficiencies as we laid the foundation for future operating growth,” wrote Schnoor.

Among the key developments of the fiscal year, the company launched its Caribbean Income Fund, which was part of the strategy to become the largest mutual fund and unit trust manager in the country. Her unit also nabbed the coveted spot as lead broker and advisor to the Jamaican government for the divestment of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

In the wake of her unit’s impressive performance for 2009, Schnoor has since been promoted to executive vice president for Wealth Management and Insurance at Scotia Bank Group. Schnoor’s career path has taken upward trend since she earned a bachelor’s of arts degree from Florida International University and a master’s from Barry University. In 1992, she began working with Eagle Unit Trust as a management trainee with Eagle Unit Trust. Two years later she was named general manager, a position she held until the profitable unit was sold to DB&G in 1998. Her unit was one of the few entities in the troubled Eagle Group that emerged untainted by the collapse.

In 1998, Schnoor jumped ship to the Pan Caribbean Financial Group, where she stayed until Scotiabank recruited her in 2006 to run its wealth management business. Whether by coincidence or not, soon after she arrived at Scotiabank, the financial giant acquired DB&G, the same company that had earlier acquired Schnoor’s former employer, Eagle Group. Naturally, the bank placed her in charge. It was a natural fit.

While other investment bankers boast their returns and portfolio size, Schnoor’s brand is more personal, more intangible.

“Your integrity is critical in the banking finance sector,” she told the Gleaner in 2009. “When someone works hard and gives their money to an institution to manage, it’s based on trust that you will make the best decision on their behalf. My career to date has been built on the fact that I am trusted and that I will make the best decision on behalf of clients.”

Given the hurdles ahead, Schnoor is banking on turning that trust into profits. Going forward, she said she is looking for ways to expand her company’s insurance and private client services operations. To pull that off, it will require Schnoor to take to heart a key piece of advice she once received: “Hire people who are smarter than yourself,” she told the Jamaica Observer in March 2010.

Given her abilities that may be her toughest job.