Following a system crash that disrupted many of Laurentian Bank’s services, the company announced the departures of CEO Rania Llewellyn and board chair Michael Mueller. Eric Provost, who was appointed head of commercial and personal banking, has taken over as the new CEO, while Michael Boychuk has been named the new chair of the board of directors.
The bank has tasked Eric Provost, its new CEO, with the primary mission of rebuilding customer trust and addressing the fallout from the recent central system failure. This mission includes swiftly resolving any remaining issues from the outage, enhancing client communication, and conducting a thorough investigation into the root causes of the incident.
The outage impacted online banking services, limiting certain transactions, though ATM withdrawals remained possible. The bank is gradually restoring services, acknowledging that some transaction records may still be incomplete.
Former CEO Rania Llewellyn, who was the first woman to lead the institution, has departed, while Eric Provost, who has a master’s degree in finance from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a decade of experience with Laurentian Bank, has assumed the CEO role.
In a message addressed to its customers, Provost announced that the bank will be refunding the monthly service fees for September. Additionally, despite the federal holiday, some branches will be open on Monday as the bank works diligently to address the ongoing issues.
“We understand how precious your trust is, and we recognize that we have not delivered on it,” said Provost in the letter.
“My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience this outage may have caused you, your family, and your company.”
The bank plans to assist customers who missed payments or had their credit scores impacted due to the recent outage. This issue occurred shortly after the bank completed a strategic review without securing a sale deal.
The new board chair, Boychuk, expressed confidence in the new CEO, Provost, and emphasized the need to enhance customer experience and operational effectiveness. Analysts suggest that the leadership changes may be linked to both the system issues and the failed sale process, with expectations of a significant financial impact for the quarter.
Laurentian Bank intends to provide more details during its fourth-quarter results announcement on December 7 and plans to unveil a renewed strategic plan in early 2024.
The bank has been working on simplifying its organizational structure and focusing on its most profitable businesses and specialized products as part of its three-year modernization plan launched in late 2021, which included the introduction of its first mobile banking app.
(Source: Montreal Gazette | Ian Bickis | The Canadian Press)
