The announcement yesterday by Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) president and CEO Galia Maor that she will be a candidate for the chairman's job means she has officially announced that she intends to leave her present post. Whether or not she is elected chairwoman, or she becomes only a director, or is not elected to the board at all, the announcement means that her 15 years as CEO is drawing to a close.
If Maor is elected as a director, she will immediately stop serving as president and CEO of the bank when the Bank of Israel approves the appointment. If she is not elected to the board, or if the appointments committee does not submit her as a candidate, she will assist her successor as CEO until August, when she will leave the bank.
The question is: who will replace Galia Maor as CEO of Bank Leumi? There are three possible candidates from within the bank, and at least three possible outsiders. The appointment of a new CEO at an Israeli bank is a crapshoot, since the large number of parties involved makes it impossible to predict who the successor will be. "Globes" will nevertheless try to make some educated guesses.
In all scenarios, the Bank Leumi search committee will submit the nominees. Secondly, there will be a technical problem. If Maor is elected as a director, she will immediately vacate her position as CEO, and only then can the board of directors establish a search committee. However, the board will convene to establish a search committee until Maor is officially installed as director and announces her resignation as CEO. It is quite possible that the new chairman - who has not been elected yet, and could be Maor - will want to influence the composition of the committee. The search committee will need several weeks to find a new CEO, and during the interim Maor confidant, and the bank's second most senior executive, VP Finance and Economics Division Zeev Nahari will serve as acting CEO.
Possible candidates for CEO within the bank include Nahari (66); Head of Corporate Banking Rakefet Russak-Aminoah (44); Head of Banking Division Baruch Lederman (57). Possible outsiders include Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE:PZOL) CEO Yona Fogel (unlikely); Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS) CEO Shai Talmon; Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) president and CEO Giora Ofer.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 25, 2010
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