CEO and chairman of Laurentian University step down from their positions

In a recent turn of events, Laurentian Bank has announced a series of leadership changes, following a mainframe outage and the conclusion of a strategic review.

The strategic review, which aimed to find a potential buyer for the bank, has concluded recently, but Laurentian Bank decided not to pursue this route. Instead, the bank has announced its focus on efficiency and simplification.

Rania Llewellyn, the former CEO of Laurentian Bank, has stepped down from her position, effective immediately. Her predecessor, Denis Girouard, has also stepped down, and Michael Mueller, the chairman of the bank, has resigned.

Michael Boychuk, who most recently led the audit committee of Laurentian Bank, has taken over as the new chairman. In a surprising move, Eric Provost, previously the head of Laurentian Bank's personal and commercial banking, has been appointed as the new CEO. This marks the second time in a month that Provost has been promoted, taking over both commercial and personal banking responsibilities.

The main reason behind these leadership changes is believed to be linked to ongoing systems issues, according to some analysts. Eric Provost will implement a three-part plan to resolve outage-related issues, improve communication with customers, and review what led to the outage.

In the wake of the mainframe outage, customer data and financial information remained secure, as stated by Laurentian Bank. However, the outage has caused a significant loss of trust among customers, and Provost's immediate priority as the new CEO will be to rebuild this trust.

Analyst Meny Grauman at Bank of Nova Scotia believes that the outcome of the strategic review may have been a factor in the leadership changes. Grauman stated, "The strategic review might have highlighted some internal issues that the bank needed to address, leading to the leadership changes."

With these leadership changes, Laurentian Bank hopes to move forward and focus on improving its systems and rebuilding trust with its customers. The bank's future direction will be under the leadership of Eric Provost, who will aim to implement the necessary changes to ensure the bank's continued success.