Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Annual Shareholders' Assembly of the Laurentian Bank of Canada. My name is Suzanne Gouin. I'm one of the directors who is a candidate for election and a faithful client with the bank since 40 years now as in Montreal. I'm happy to wish welcome to all participants who are here in person in Montreal. We're very happy to have you with us today, whether you are there in person or virtually. The webcast will be available on our website following the assembly. The assembly will take place both in French and in English. Simultaneous translation is available for each language. If you are there virtually, click on the webcast icon, the globe icon to select the language you wish. If you're here in person, I invite you to go to the registration desk to pick up a headset and listen to the language of your choice. My fellow Board members are here today, either in person or virtually. I'd like to officially present the members of the Board. We have Sonia Baxendale, Andrea Bolger, Michael Boychuk, Rania Llewellyn, David Morris, David Mowat, Michael Mueller, Michelle Savoy, Susan Wolburgh Jenah and Nicholas Zelenczuk. A number of members of senior management are also with us today. We have Karine Abgrall-Teslyk, Executive VP and Director of Personal Banking; Sébastien Bélair, Executive VP and Human Resources Director; Bindu Cudjoe, Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary; Yves Denomme, Executive VP of Operations; Yvan Deschamps, VP, Executive and CFO; Kelsey Gunderson, Executive VP for Capital Markets; William Mason, Executive Vice President and Risk Management Director; Eric Provost, Executive VP, Business Services and President for the Quebec market; and Beel Yaqub, Executive VP for Technologies and Information. Since it's possible to participate both virtually and in person, we've defined a number of ground rules in order to facilitate the unfolding of the assembly. The rules can be found in the Investor Center on the website, the bank's website. To facilitate things, we've also asked shareholders who are also bank employees to present and second the proposals or motions that are present on the agenda. Shareholders and proxy holders will be able to comment these proposals before the vote. [Operator Instructions] Yvan Deschamps, our CFO, will read participants' questions from the virtual assembly when the moment we'll have -- when the moment will come. We'll also accept questions of a more general nature after the -- we deal with the official agenda. Please be concise and deal only with topics that are in discussion at the moment. I'd like to recall -- or to remind shareholders that -- who have already voted that if they vote during the assembly, this vote will automatically cancel the vote or proxy that they've already submitted. So if you don't want to modify your vote, simply avoid voting during the assembly. If you haven't already voted, you may do so in person when the vote will be called using the device that was given to you at the registration table. If you have questions regarding voting in person, please go to the registration table immediately. For those who are present virtually, you'll be able to click on the voting icon that will appear on your screen to see the resolutions, proposals and see what the voting options are. You may vote or change your vote at any moment for any resolution or proposal, and this until the end of the voting period. Voting results will be announced at the end of the assembly. Now I'd like to introduce Ms. Rania Llewellyn, our President and CEO, who will tell us a little bit about the bank and its activities.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Suzanne. Hello and thank you for being here at the annual shareholders of the Laurentian Bank whether in person or virtually. 2021 was a very special year for Laurentian Bank. We celebrated our 175th years of existence, along with our customers, our partners and our communities. In spite of the pandemic, we found a number of opportunities to celebrate the deep roots of [Foreign Language] here in Quebec. For instance, we've launched new products and special offers for our customers. We've also created a new donation campaign entitled [Foreign Language], Laurentian Bank and its Communities, which lets employees choose the organizations they wish to donate to. Right from the beginning of the pandemic, our priority has been to protect the health and safety of our employees and that of our customers as well. We've also responded to the needs and supported them in order to mitigate the negative financial impact arising from the pandemic. I'd like to sincerely thank all the Laurentian Bank's customers and employees. Our employees have accomplished remarkable work to better serve our customers and maintain our operations during this difficult period. At the beginning of last year, we outlined 3 immediate priorities for 2021, which I am pleased to confirm have all been successfully achieved. We have renewed the bank's senior leadership team with 4 experienced external executives and 2 internal promotions. We identified a number of opportunities for cost savings and executed against those initiatives, reducing our overall adjusted efficiency ratio by 410 basis points to 68.2% for the year. And we conducted a thorough strategic review of the bank's operations and developed and launched our new 3-year strategic plan at our December 10 Investor Day, which will position the bank for sustainable, long-term profitable growth and drive shareholder value. Our new strategic plan is underpinned by a commitment to ESG, a new purpose and new core values. Our new core values first unveiled at our Investor Day reflect what we believe and how we behave. We place the customer first. We work as one winning team. We act courageously. We are results-driven. We believe everyone belongs. From these new core values, we developed our new tagline, Seeing Beyond Numbers and our new purpose statement, which serves as both our anchor and our North Star guiding us into the future. [Presentation]

As a next step in the rollout of our new strategy and purpose, we are thrilled to announce that we will soon be launching a multichannel marketing campaign showcasing our renewed brand and a refreshed logo. Our refreshed logo focuses on our Laurentian Bank tree as a symbol of our proud roots while marking the next phase in our bank's rich history. This marketing campaign will bring our new purpose and tagline to life and will tell the story of how we're helping our customers thrive. Our new purpose is also at the heart of our strategic approach toward environmental, social and governance issues. We know that our customers and investors are looking to partner and invest in companies that make ESG issues a priority. I am proud to have taken the role as Laurentian Bank's ESG champion, making myself directly accountable for our ESG strategy and working closely with the Board on their ESG oversight mandates. I am personally committed to building a lasting legacy for our current and future customers, shareholders and employees. I also want to emphasize for all our shareholders that we are committed to increased transparency and engagement with you and other stakeholders on ESG matters. We are continually adapting and upgrading our disclosures and reporting, and we are so proud to have recently published the bank's first ever ESG report. [Foreign Language] 2022 is the year for execution of our strategic plan. Our success and the dynamic that we've created over the past year are showing us that we are well on the right track. As announced during our Investors Day, our 5 new strategic pillars are as follows: make size our advantage, build one winning team, thinking customer first, simplify and making the better choice. Finally, I'm extremely proud of everything that we have accomplished in order to recenter and rebuild the bank in 2021. 2022, a year that will emphasize execution, has started in a big way. I'm truly confident that the bank has a brilliant future ahead of it. I'm grateful for the support I've received from the Board of Directors and from its Chair, Mr. Michael Mueller. I'd like to sincerely thank our shareholders, our clients for the trust that they have given Laurentian Bank. This trust is not something that we take for granted. We're determined to focus on developing our customer-centric culture and to concentrate on reaching our results. Thank you again to all Laurentian Bank's employees. It's an honor for me to lead this solid and devoted team of motivated, well-meaning, diverse, courageous persons. Thank you for your attention. Now I'd like to invite Eric Provost, Executive Vice President, Business Services and President for the Quebec market who will say a few words. Eric?

[Foreign Language] by investing in new digital tools to continually improve the customer experience and by being opportunistic about strategic acquisitions. The second is to continue to diversify geographically and by business sector by continuing the sustained growth of our real estate portfolio across Canada with an experienced and well-established team whose expertise is recognized across the country, by maximizing our equipment and inventory financing capabilities in the U.S. on a North American basis. We are uniquely positioned to continue to grow and gain market share by exploring opportunities in new targeted sectors such as technology, smaller construction equipment, environmentally-friendly equipment and the deployment of our day care financing program outside Quebec. Our third priority is to deepen our relationships with customers through value-added products and services. This includes the development of a new digital cash management platform for our customers that will allow us to leverage existing relationships and attract additional commercial deposits; the introduction of new products, including the commencements of an analysis for the marketing of a merchant lending solution for Canadian dealerships, which will enhance our relationships with existing customers while creating new opportunities for personal banking; working with our capital markets colleagues to ensure strategic clients have access to their services such as foreign exchange and advisory services. All this will be supported by our ongoing customer experience improvements. Beginning this year, we will measure our success through 3 indicators: growing our loan portfolio with the goal of reaching $15 billion by 2022 and over $18 billion by 2024. By increasing the proportion of commercial loans in the United States, our goal is to increase from 14%, which was the case in '21 to over 18% by 2024. And thirdly, maintaining our level of customer satisfaction, meaning that our customer loyalty indicator must remain above the threshold of excellence. We're confident that we have the right team and the right strategy to continue our success in the coming years. I would like now to invite my colleague, Karine, to come and tell you about personal banking services. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Eric. Hello. I'm Karine Abgrall-Teslyk, Executive Vice President and Head of Personal Banking, and I joined Laurentian Bank in 2021. Since it was founded in Montreal more than 175 years ago, Laurentian Bank has always been there, helping its individual customers so that they might improve their financial health and better support their families. This notion of proximity has made our reputation over the years, and it's a point of pride for us, and this is what allows our financial institution to distinguish itself from its competitors. As mentioned by Rania, our President and CEO, we recently have disclosed our new mission. Together, we are repositioning for growth, thanks to our new 3-year strategic plan. In keeping with this notion of proximity, we have created the unified team for 2021 by bringing together our B2B Bank adviser and broker channel in the Quebec distribution markets. This concept of one single bank, bringing together all of our retail banking activities under one management, stems from our strategic direction to create a new value proposition that puts the client at the center of everything we do. This places the customer at the center of all of our actions and all of our initiatives. 2021 was a time of rebuilding and strategic refocusing for retail banking. First, we renewed our management team and developed a new focused operating model based on a performance culture. We are now able to expand our retail offering nationally by combining physical presence in our branches with digital offerings to meet the expectations of our current and future customers. We have redefined the customer journey to better meet and anticipate their needs. We are leveraging its digital strategy to complement our advisory services and field presence through our branches and our network of brokers and advisers. To that end, we launched our new mobile app in 2021 and rebranded our image to reflect our purpose and new core values. We've also redefined our brand so that it might better reflect our mission and our new values. It's also important to review our mortgage programs from end-to-end. We've created new residential mortgage services with 4 specialized teams to help our customers. One of our proudest achievements last year is that we were able to reduce the time it takes to approve a mortgage application, a definite benefit to our customers, particularly in the current market. In order to improve our performance as well as our customers' experience, we are focusing constantly on simplifying many of our processes, including the consolidation of contracts with our suppliers. A recent example is the simplification of our Visa card suite. We're proud to have entered into a strategic partnership with Brim Financial last December, which will provide Laurentian Bank customers with access to, among other things, digital support, instant decision-making, instant virtual card issuance and a wide range of self-service features. These accomplishments drive us forward and allow us to focus on retaining our existing clients, strengthening our relationships with them and acquiring new clients as well. In 2022, we continue the progress undertaken in 2021. We will continue to enhance our core products, which is mortgages, Visa and deposits, to maintain and deepen existing relationships while targeting new customer segments. We will continue our digital rollout and the creation of a modern, unique and renewed brand image. To ensure growth, our efforts will be governed and measured by key performance indicators that will allow us to remain agile at all times. We have all the necessary elements in place to ensure our growth. We have a talented team and the right strategy that will let us properly execute our 3-year plan. Thank you for your attention. Now I'd like to invite Mr. Michael Mueller, Chairman of the Board of the Laurentian Bank, who will speak.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of Laurentian Bank of Canada. I'm Mike Mueller, Chair of the Board and a nominee for election as director today. We are so happy to be able to meet with you today in person for the first time since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back at this past year, I'm extremely proud of our many accomplishments. 2021 was a year of resetting for the bank, its strategy, its culture and its purpose. It was also a year where the bank delivered improved adjusted financial results for its shareholders. Under the leadership of our President and CEO, Rania Llewellyn, the bank renewed its senior leadership team, it improved its adjusted efficiency ratio and developed and unveiled a new 3-year plan. The bank's success and the momentum of the past year demonstrates that we are capable of great accomplishments and that we are on the right track. As we have begun 2022, our focus is now to build on our solid foundation and execute on the bank's new 3-year plan. This plan will set Laurentian Bank apart from its competitors and focus on areas where the bank can best differentiate and position ourselves for the future. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my fellow Board members for your hard work, your advice and your counsel over the past year. A special thank you to every employee of the Laurentian Bank family for your commitment to placing the customer at the center of everything you do and for living and believing that we can change banking for the better. And finally, thank you to our shareholders for your support, loyalty and trust in Laurentian Bank. I now call the meeting to order. We will conduct the following matters of business: number one, presentation of the financial statements; number two, election of directors; number three, appointment of the bank's auditor; number four, consideration of a resolution regarding the amendment of the bank's stock option plan; number five, consideration of an advisory resolution regarding the bank's approach to named executive officer compensation; and six, consideration of the shareholder proposals. Following this, there will be a question period for shareholders and proxy holders. After which, we will announce the voting results. I have received satisfactory proof that the notice calling this meeting was duly publicized and sent to all shareholders of the bank. We received proxies representing more than 41% of the common outstanding shares. Accordingly, there is quorum present, and I declare the meeting duly and properly constituted for the transaction of business. With the consent of the meeting, Ms. Martine Gauthier and Ms. Gale Demick of Computershare Trust Company of Canada will act as scrutineers. And Ms. Bindu Cudjoe, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, will act as Secretary today. The polls will now be open for all resolutions and proposals. Our first item is the presentation of the bank's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2021, and their accompanying auditors report. Unless there is an objection, I will dispense with the reading of the auditor's report. [Interpreted] Do we have questions or comments regarding this proposal?

[Interpreted] No questions or comments.

The number of directors to be elected at the meeting is 11 in accordance with the bank's bylaws and the recommendation of the Board and its Human Resources and Corporate Governance Committee. All nominees are listed in the bank's management information circular. [Interpreted] Does anyone wish to propose?

[Interpreted] My name is [ Jessica Sims ]. I'm a shareholder. I propose that each of the 11 nominees be elected to a position on the Board of Directors and should exercise these functions until the next assembly or until someone is named as successor.

[Interpreted] I am a shareholder. My name is Matthew [indiscernible], and I second this motion.

[Interpreted] Do we have questions or comments regarding this proposal?

[Interpreted] No questions, no comments.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Please vote if you haven't done so already. Next, we will appoint the auditor. On the recommendation of the Board and its Audit Committee, I would like to recommend that Ernst & Young be appointed external auditor of the bank and to authorize the Board of Directors to fix the auditor's remuneration. [Foreign Language]

[Interpreted] My name is [ Jessica Sims ]. I'm a shareholder. I propose that Ernst & Young be named as external auditor until the next shareholders' assembly or until a successor is nominated and succession is approved by the Board.

[Interpreted] Does anyone approve this proposal?

[Interpreted] My name is Matthew [indiscernible]. I'm a shareholder, and I support this proposal.

[Interpreted] Do we have comments or questions regarding these proposals?

[Interpreted] No questions, no comments.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Please vote if you haven't voted already. The next item is a resolution amending the bank's stock option plan. The wording of this resolution is set out in the management proxy circular. [Interpreted] Can have a proposal for approval of this resolution.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Jessica Sims ]. I'm a shareholder. I propose that the resolution amending the share option purchase plan, as found in the circular, be approved.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Anyone second this motion?

[Interpreted] My name is Matthew [indiscernible]. I'm a shareholder, and I second this motion.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Are there any questions or comments regarding this proposal, this motion?

[Interpreted] No questions, no comments.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Please vote if you haven't done so already. The next item is to vote on the nonbinding advisory resolution concerning the bank's approach to executive officer compensation. The wording of this resolution is set out in the management proxy circular. [Interpreted] May I have someone to propose this resolution?

[Interpreted] I'm [ Jessica Sims ]. I propose that the consultative resolution regarding the compensation of senior management, the text of which is found in the circular, I recommend that this motion be approved.

[Interpreted] Anyone ready to second this?

[Interpreted] My name is Matthew [indiscernible]. I'm a shareholder. I support this proposal.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Do we have any questions or comments regarding this proposal?

[Interpreted] We have no questions nor comments.

[Interpreted] Please vote if you haven't done so already. The next item is the shareholder proposals. I will now ask Mr. Deschamps to provide additional details about the proposals.

[Interpreted] The bank has received 11 proposals from MEDAC. The proposals and statements supporting these proposals can be found in Annex A of the proxy circular. Following discussions with MEDAC's representatives, MEDAC has accepted to not submit to a vote proposals #2, 4, 5, 6 and 8. The wording of other proposals submitted to a vote and the reasons for which the Board recommends voting against these are found in Annex A of the circular. To save time, we won't delve into the reasons that have motivated the Board's decision during this assembly. I'd like to invite now Mr. Willie Gagnon, who will speak concerning the MEDAC's proposals. Mr. Gagnon?

[Interpreted] Good morning. I'm very happy to be here with you today. This is my first shareholder assembly in person for the past 2 years now. I'm glad to see people -- real live people in the room. 11 proposals that we have sent, that's a lot of proposals, but times are hard. A lot of questions are raised. We're very happy with the bank's -- that the bank has listened to us and has been generous with its time. Mr. Deschamps, I think, is the person I've dealt with most often with -- within this context this year. I was happy to have his ear, his attentive ear. And I would like to look into these proposals that were subject to the vote. And I'll explain why we accepted to not have a vote on some of these proposals. Number one, formal representation of employees in decision-making, strategic decision-making. We wanted the bank to give itself instances or forums, letting employees weigh in on decisions, strategic decisions, as we see in other countries. We were hoping that the bank would look into best practices as found in Europe and the U.K., for instance, and trying this in the bank's normal practices. We've seen this in other banks elsewhere. The dialogue remains open. And we hope that what we've obtained elsewhere, we can obtain here at Laurentian Bank as well. We're thinking, for instance, of certain practices they have in Continental Europe and in the U.K., which seem to us best practices. We've sent a proposal as well on the disclosure of women's situation at the bank, as professionals in the bank. We have an agreement, and the bank says it will continue improving the disclosure on women's status in Laurentian Bank. We also want to vote on a proposal because we would like the bank to integrate into its charter the obligation to include ESG matters in all of its actions and decisions. We've not obtained that at the Laurentian Bank nor elsewhere, but that's why we like a vote on this proposal. We've sent a proposal as well on decarbonation so that the bank might quickly adopt a reduction of its investments in the fossil fuels industries. What we found is that Laurentian will no longer directly finance fossil fuels exploration and extraction. We're happy that you have given up financing fossil fuels. I think this should have been a headline in the media. Also, in environmental matters, you're saying that we have committed to improving the fight against climate, and we intend to interact with -- you would be the first to undertake this measure. It's remarkable. We have good vote results. I've had the first today at Scotiabank. I think we had 21% on this proposal, which is stratospheric in terms of shareholder proposals in this sense, but you've decided to implement the measure before everyone else. We hope that your example will be followed by other banks. We wanted to see a consulting committee in environmental matters implemented at the bank. You haven't done this, but you have done something, however. You've charged your different committees. You have told them to look into the impact of climate change, and it gives us the same effect as if you had put together a committee dealing with climate change. We are satisfied with this. So we're not asking for a vote on this proposal. I will keep my proposal in the French language for the end. We had sent a proposal asking you to a -- implement a weighting of environmental matters -- the relative important environmental matters. We wanted the bank to disclose information about its involvement in the circular economy. This is an environmental topic that is not as developed as other environmental topics. We know that like other banks, you're not there yet in your thinking, but there is Circular Economy Leadership Canada. This is an initiative. We've not asked for a vote for this, but some banks have signed up to the principles of responsible banking, and we are inviting you to join this initiative. If you do so, you'll not receive this proposal in the future. There are 3 remaining proposals, sorry if it's so long. We sent a proposal about abstention votes concerning some directors last year. We've received some answers about this, but not satisfactory. Every time an administrator is not -- or a director does not receive the same support at others, we'd like the bank to ask shareholders why this is the case and to account for it in writing. So we'll have a vote on that. And a proposal on the mission. Could you specify what your reason for being is? What your mission is? Most banks do this. So we'll have a vote on that. Now the touchy topic, French language, the reason for which we're sending this proposal to all corporations that are in our portfolio this year. There are 2 events that have triggered this. The fact that there were shareholder assemblies in English only at [Foreign Language]. I see that this is not the case today, but we've seen the commitments by the bank in this area, and we thank you for this, but we want to have a vote anyway. We understand that this is an 8unpopular subject. We understand that shareholders are not necessarily very concerned by the French language and its position, but we think it's a societal question. We've seen big kerfuffles in the media. Think of Air Canada and its Chairman, its CEO, rather. We don't want to accuse physical persons, actual persons. We want to call on the social responsibility of moral persons of corporations. We find deplorable that this be a source of strife, that it has become a moral issue. But what we would like is that our -- we think that our proposal is an appropriate measure, and it calls on your sense of social responsibility, which is why we're asking for a vote on this. Of course, we're not expecting great results on this, but we think that these results don't necessarily reflect the importance of this subject. This is why I was keeping this proposal for the end. And I've seen that you have made real efforts at the bank. I think I was asked 6 times at least today if I wanted to have automatic translation. I don't need it, but I understand that you are doing the right thing. And I hope that we are being heard even if the results are not always there. Thank you very much. Sorry if it was long, but I think it reflects the discussions we've had this year so far. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Do we have questions or comments regarding this proposal?

[Interpreted] No questions, no comments.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Please vote if this has not been done already. [Voting]

[Interpreted] Period of vote is now closed. [ Complete ] and confirm your votes, we will open the meeting to any further questions from shareholders and duly authorized proxy holders. [Operator Instructions] I will either respond to your questions directly or have them addressed by another member of our leadership team. Questions received via webcast will be read in the language used to submit them. The votes have been counted, and the preliminary report of the scrutineers has been delivered to the bank. The motions for the appointment of the auditor and auditor remuneration, the amendment to the bank's stock option plan and the approval of the nonbinding advisory resolution concerning the bank's approach to executive officers' compensation have been duly adopted. The following persons elected as directors of the bank: Sonia Baxendale; Andrea Bolger; Michael T. Boychuk; Suzanne Gouin; Rania Llewellyn; David Morris; David Mowat; Michael Mueller; Michelle R. Savoy; Susan Wolburgh Jenah; and Nicholas Zelenczuk. The shareholder proposals were not adopted as they did not receive the majority of votes cast at this meeting. [Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending the meeting today. This concludes the official agenda for the meeting. May I have a motion to close the meeting?

[Interpreted] [ Jessica Sims ], and I'm a shareholder. I move to adjourn the meeting.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Does anyone second the motion?

[Interpreted] My name is [indiscernible], and I am a shareholder. I second this motion.

I will call this meeting terminated. Thank you for your attendance today. We hope that you remain well and healthy. [Foreign Language] [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]