The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 4, edition that the sudden departure of Laurentian Bank of Canada chief executive officer Rania Llewellyn signals turmoil. The Post's John Turley-Ewart writes that the turmoil is not simply the culmination of recent events, let alone the mainframe failure that has disrupted operations in recent days. It may be better understood as its past catching up with it, a past defined by the notion that smaller can be better in Canadian banking. In its 2022 annual report, Laurentian recorded one of the worst efficiency ratios (the ability to control overhead expenses) in the banking industry, at 67.8 per cent (50 per cent or less is ideal). This was "good" compared with the year before when its efficiency ratio was an eye-popping 87.8 per cent. By contrast, CIBC'S efficiency ratio in 2022 was about 58 per cent and TD's 53 per cent. What to do with a small bank, still heavily concentrated in Central Canada, its physical footprint mostly in Quebec, with an efficiency ratio that sends investors running for the hills? Selling the bank is an obvious answer. Yet the way Laurentian went about it speaks to a lack of institutional experience its larger rivals mastered a century ago.