The Canadian bank announced in July it was examining its options. It hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to run the process and considered a number of possibilities, including a sale of the whole bank or parts of it. Instead, it will try to ramp up its current strategy, which includes growth in commercial lending and technology upgrades.
As part of her plan, Llewellyn is shaking up the management team around her. She promoted commercial-banking head Eric Provost to an expanded role that also includes personal banking, replacing Karine Abgrall-Teslyk. Sebastien Belair becomes chief administrative officer, taking on responsibilities held by departing operations head Yves Denomme.
The company’s shares slumped as much as 12% to C$31.52 at the start of trading Thursday in Toronto, their biggest intraday decline since May 2020. Laurentian shares, which jumped on news of the strategic review, have fallen in recent weeks after Llewellyn declined to answer analysts’ questions about the process on Aug. 31. Some analysts had speculated that Laurentian would divest of Northpoint Commercial Finance, a fast-growing US division that specializes in lending for recreational products such as boats and ATVs.