Galia Maor could have stayed on as president and CEO of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) for as long as she wanted. There is no question that she is the strongest woman in the bank's management, board of directors, and in Israel's banking system in general.
From the moment that she took up her post 17 years ago, nothing has happened at the bank without her say-so. She could definitely have continued this into the far future. Next month, she will become 69, mostly successful years. If she had stayed on, at some point, we would have said that she will never let go of the helm. That's not what she wanted. She has always stood at the top of the pyramid, she wanted to leave the stage at her peak, and she is going exactly at the moment she intended.
Maor was, and will always be, one of Israel's best bankers. Smart and sophisticated, experienced for better or worse, both conservative and innovative. She presumably has no other job at hand. It would suit her to have one. It would not be like her to secure another job while she continued to sit in the CEO's chair - that would not be fair to the dignity and caution that she attributes to herself.
Nonetheless, she will have no problem in finding something new to raise and better, in Israel or in the world. Among all the male executives who have threatened to leave the country if they are not highly compensated, Maor never made such a threat, even though she could easily have found a job in any great multinational.
For many years, she has starred in "Forbes" and "Fortune's" lists of the most influential women in the global economy. She is currently a member of the world's 15 top bankers who are advising Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on how to turn Moscow into a global capital center.
Many years ago, Israel's First Lady of Banking took over a bruised and battered bank, whose rival, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), owned by the Histadrut, Federation of Labor, toyed with Leumi while exploiting political connections to beat it. Through thorough and brave work, Bank Leumi is now considered one of the world's state-of-the-art banks, surpassing Bank Hapoalim in balance sheet, shareholders' equity, and amount of deposits, even as it carried several scandals in its closet.
Like everything else about Maor, her departure was carefully planned in advance. The measures began several years ago. There was one embarrassing incident en route, when she wanted to succeed Bank Leumi chairman Eitan Raff on the basis of an unworthy legal opinion, which ultimately sank her. First Raff left, then David Brodet was appointed to succeed him - and she very soon learned who was the boss.
Throughout, Bank Leumi's directors were appointed in line with the spirit of the bank's management, and the potential candidates who thought, or whom others thought they could become the next CEO, were gradually shunted aside. They included Zeev Nahari and Ehud Shapiro. In early July 2011, the decisive vote was held, and Rakefet Russak-Aminoach was appointed deputy CEO. In other words, Maor marked her successor, who began to consolidate her position.
There is no surprise in the fact that Maor appointed a successor to continue her work for she did the same when she was the Supervisor of Banks. There are those that say that she has left Russak-Aminach, her confidante and partner in policy making, to protect the decisions she has implemented, and to bar a stranger from coming in and looking for mistakes and "dirt" to pave a new way forward.
There is no doubt that the search committee to find a successor is something of a nonsense. This is typical of the Israeli banking system as happened at Hapoalim when Zion Kenan was chosen as CEO, and at Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) when Reuven Spiegel was appointed CEO. Perhaps other candidates will be considered such as former Supervisor of Banks Roni Hizkiyahu who has completed his one year cooling off period, or somebody like Mizrahi Tefahot Bank (TASE:MZTF) CEO Eli Yones who wants to manage a bigger bank or a former Bank Leumi senior executive. But how much chance do they have against Maor's adopted daughter.
Russak-Aminoach is Maor's twin, experienced, brilliant and successful. But Maor came to a very different bank that had been hit hard by the collapse in 1983 when she was Supervisor of Banks. That made her especially cautious. Russak-Aminoach has only known success and is therefore much less cautious in public niceties and sensibilities.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 1, 2012
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