Laurentian Bank announces new president after last week’s major outages

MONTREAL – After a major outage last week, the effects of which are still being felt, Laurentian Bank announced on Monday the departure of its President and CEO, Rania Llewellyn, and its Chairman of the Board, Michael Mueller.

Éric Provost, recently appointed Group Head of Retail and Commercial Banking, becomes President and CEO, while Michael Boychuk is appointed Chairman of the Board.

In a statement, the institution said Provost’s first mandate as president will be to “restore trust with the Bank’s customers and address the consequences of the core system failure that occurred last week”.

“We have experienced some difficulties recently, and the Board is confident that Éric (Provost) will be able to refocus the organization on the customer experience and operational efficiency. Eric’s appointment to the position of President and CEO follows his outstanding performance as head of our Commercial Banking division, and is part of our formal succession planning process,” said Boychuk, the bank’s new Chairman of the Board.

Provost’s mission will be threefold: to ensure that the bank quickly resolves all issues related to the outage; to improve communications with customers; and to launch a thorough review of the factors that led to the outage.

Last week, the computer failure affected the institution’s online banking services on its website and mobile application. It was possible to make bank withdrawals at the ATM, but it was not possible to make other operations such as deposits.

The bank says it is gradually restoring its services, but still notes on its website that some balances and transactions may not yet be fully updated.

Although Monday is a federal holiday, for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, several Laurentian Bank branches will be open. All monthly banking fees for the month of September will also be waived, the institution said.

Llewellyn had been President and CEO since 2020. She was the first woman to head the institution.

Provost has been with Laurentian Bank for over ten years. He holds a master’s degree in finance from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

“Once the issues related to the outage are fully resolved, we will develop a new plan to ensure the continued success of our Bank. We will focus our efforts on regaining the trust of our loyal customers while continuing our actions to increase operational efficiency and growth in all our business segments,” Provost said in the institution’s statement.

In recent months, the Montreal-based bank conducted a review of its strategic options, which is often seen by investors as a prelude to selling a business.

The review concluded, however, with no agreement to sell it, the institution arguing that the best way forward to generate shareholder value is through an accelerated evolution of its current strategic plan, with increased focus on efficiency and simplification.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 2, 2023, and translated by CityNews.