Hon. Sabi Marwah: Honourable senators, just last year, a Canadian bank celebrated its one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary. This bank has a storied history and a history of firsts. It was the first institution in Canada to hold a trust company licence, the first bank to link its branches to a central computer system, the first to install automated banking machines and now the first major Canadian bank to appoint a woman as CEO.

Colleagues, if I asked you which bank that would be, I doubt many of you would have guessed Laurentian Bank. Founded in Montreal as the Montreal City and District Savings Bank in 1846, it has made many acquisitions over the years and was renamed the Laurentian Bank in 1987 following its listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In October 2020, Laurentian Bank appointed Rania Llewellyn, who is with us today, as President and CEO. Born in Kuwait to an Egyptian father and a Jordanian mother, Ms. Llewellyn is a first-generation Canadian, having immigrated from Egypt in her teenage years after the Gulf War. The family moved to Nova Scotia, where Rania holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a Master of Business Administration as well as an honorary doctorate from Saint Mary’s University.

Rania began her career as a part-time teller at Scotiabank in 1996. She spent more than two decades at Scotiabank, where she held a variety of progressively senior positions, including Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking, President and CEO of Roynat Capital and Executive Vice President of Global Business Payments.

Rania has a reputation as a transformational change leader, building high-performance teams and creating a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion. Her focus on improving the customer experience and driving shareholder value has earned her many awards, including The Top 25 Women of Influence in 2021 and Women in Payments award for top leader in 2019. Most recently, she was named in this year’s Maclean’s Power List of 50 Canadians who are forging paths, leading the debate and shaping how we think and live.

Over the course of 2021, under Ms. Llewellyn’s leadership, Laurentian Bank underwent a comprehensive strategic review of its operations and announced a new five-point strategy for sustainable, profitable growth: building one winning team, which would work across boundaries, putting the bank ahead of individual or team interests; leveraging size to create a competitive advantage in specialized markets; creating a culture with a relentless focus on the customer; streamlining internal operations; and integrating environment, social, governance, or ESG, practices in everything they do.

These are ambitious plans. In a recent interview, Rania came in a sweatshirt that said, “Underestimate me – that will be fun.” I’m certainly not going to start doing that, but I have no doubt that Laurentian Bank will be a winner in the years ahead. Thank you.