In a recent announcement, Laurentian Bank (TSX: LB) has appointed Éric Provost as President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Rania Llewellyn who is to leave the company immediately. The bank also named Michael Boychuk as the new Chair of the Board, following Michael Mueller's resignation, both changes effective immediately.
Provost, who has been with the bank for over a decade and most recently served as Group Head of Personal and Commercial Banking, will focus on rebuilding trust with the bank's customers and addressing the impacts of a mainframe outage that occurred last week during a planned IT maintenance update. Customer data and financial information remained secure at all times amid the outage.
As part of his immediate priorities, Provost will implement a three-part action plan to fully resolve any outstanding issues related to the outage, significantly enhance communications with customers to ensure they are provided with timely updates on the full restoration of the bank's services, and launch a comprehensive review of the factors that led to the outage.
According to InvestingPro data, Laurentian Bank has a market cap of $971.85 million and a P/E ratio of 6.77, suggesting that the stock is trading at a low earnings multiple. This is further supported by the InvestingPro Tip that the bank's valuation implies a strong free cash flow yield.
Boychuk, an experienced executive and board member who was most recently Chair of the Audit Committee for Laurentian Bank, expressed confidence in Provost's leadership. "Éric is the right executive to lead the bank at this critical point in its evolution," he said. "We have experienced challenges recently and the board is confident that Éric will successfully focus the organization on our customer experience and operational effectiveness."
In response to the recent outage, Laurentian Bank has announced it will reverse all monthly service fees for September. Customers can expect to see a credit in their accounts in the coming days. The bank has also extended branch hours for this week and some branches remained open on Monday, despite it being a statutory federal holiday.
"I am honoured to assume the role of CEO at Laurentian Bank. I believe that the trust of our customers, our people and our shareholders are paramount," Provost stated. "Once the issues related to the outage are fully behind us, we will develop a new plan to ensure the sustained success of our bank."
InvestingPro data also reveals that the bank has maintained a significant dividend yield of 6.21% to its shareholders, and has maintained dividend payments for 50 consecutive years, a noteworthy InvestingPro Tip. For more insightful tips and real-time metrics about Laurentian Bank, visit InvestingPro.
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