National Bank Names Laurent Ferreira CEO, Succeeding Vachon

(Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon is stepping down after 14 years and will be succeeded by Laurent Ferreira atop the country’s sixth-largest bank.

Ferreira, who was promoted to chief operating officer in February, will take over as CEO on Nov. 1, the Montreal-based lender said in a statement Wednesday.

Since taking the reins in 2007, Vachon helped National Bank grow beyond its stronghold in Quebec by building up its capital-markets unit and diversifying offerings within its divisions, providing the company with a steadier stream of earnings.

As a result, National Bank shares had the best performance among Canada’s eight largest publicly-traded banks during Vachon’s leadership, rising more than 200%. Vachon is the only CEO of one of those banks who’s been in the top job since before the financial crisis.

“Louis did a really good job of maintaining those core strengths but still growing the bank and expanding out into other areas,” Barclays Plc analyst John Aiken said in an interview earlier this year. “One of the things that I don’t think he gets enough credit for is the success that they’ve had in the capital-markets platform.”

Ferreira has been with National Bank for more than two decades and held a variety of roles in the financial markets division. Since 2019, he also has been co-managing the bank’s digital overhaul and cultural transformation.

“Over the course of his career, Laurent has demonstrated a decisive and unifying leadership approach, always quick to identify and seize growth opportunities,” Vachon said in a statement. “He has been central to the bank’s transformation and cultural shift, and he has played a key role in the success of our financial markets franchise.”

With Vachon’s departure, Bank of Nova Scotia’s Brian Porter will now be the longest-serving CEO of a Big Six Canadian bank.

National Bank shares were little changed at C$97.27 at 9:45 a.m. in Toronto.

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