Laurentian Bank of Canada on Tuesday named former Bank of Nova Scotia executive Rania Llewellyn as its next CEO, an appointment that Montreal-based Laurentian says will make Llewellyn the first woman to lead a major Canadian bank.
Llewellyn will take over as president and chief executive officer of Laurentian, as well as join its board of directors, on Oct. 30, the bank said in a press release.
“I am thrilled and honoured to join the Laurentian Bank at this critical juncture in its storied history and want to thank the Board for its confidence in me,” Llewellyn said in the release. “This is a really exciting time for our industry, with rapidly changing customer expectations driven by new technologies and broader macro-economic uncertainties that are affecting our customers every day.”
Llewellyn’s appointment comes at a challenging time for Laurentian, Canada’s seventh-biggest bank.
The nearly 175-year-old lender had been searching for a permanent CEO since June, when the retirement of its previous chief executive, François Desjardins, was announced following disappointing second-quarter earnings and a 40-per-cent cut to the lender’s dividend. Stéphane Therrien, Laurentian’s then-executive vice-president, personal and commercial banking, was appointed Desjardins’ interim successor.
Desjardins had launched a seven-year overhaul of Laurentian’s operations during his time in charge, with the lender spending on its technology and converting its physical branches into advice-only outlets. However, Laurentian’s performance disappointed investors over that stretch — which also saw the bank deal with mortgage documentation issues and contentious contract talks with its unionized workforce — and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic left it anticipating further delays to the strategic plan.
“Rania Llewellyn is the right leader to usher in a new era at Laurentian Bank,” said Michelle Savoy, a Laurentian director who headed the CEO search committee, in the release. “Following a rigorous search process, we are confident she is the change agent this bank needs to address the headwinds it faces and to establish a foundation for future growth and success. In addition, we are proud to have the first woman CEO in the history of major Canadian chartered banks.”
Canada’s Big Six banks all have men as their chief executives, although the Canadian arm of Britain’s HSBC Holdings Plc is led by Linda Seymour, who succeeded Sandra Stuart as HSBC Bank Canada’s chief executive in September.
Llewellyn spent more than 25 years at Scotiabank, most recently as its executive vice president of global business payments. While at Scotiabank, Llewellyn also led the diversity and inclusion office for its global banking and markets unit and served as a member of the lender’s “Executive All Bank Inclusion Council,” Laurentian said.
According to the biographical details provided by Laurentian, Llewellyn was born in Kuwait and immigrated to Canada from Egypt in 1992. She has a bachelor of commerce degree, MBA and an honorary doctorate from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.
“I recognize, respect and celebrate the Laurentian Bank’s deep roots and rich history in Quebec and I am committed to always putting our customers first in everything we do,” she added in the press release. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues across Canada and in the U.S. to develop a strategy for long-term growth and success that meets the needs and expectations of all our stakeholders.”
National Bank Financial analyst Gabriel Dechaine said in a note to clients on Tuesday that the external hire by Laurentian could bring some welcome change to the lender.
“We believe LB needs a fresh face to lead the bank out of several years of sub-par performance, along with several strategic and operational mishaps,” Dechaine wrote. “We also believe a new CEO will have more flexibility to take dramatic action to put the bank on more solid footing during the current downturn and into the future.”
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