Dive Brief:

• Fifth Third Bank has promoted its chief risk officer, Jamie Leonard, to CFO, effective immediately, it announced in a Monday press release.

• Leonard replaces Tayfun Tuzun, who served as the bank's CFO of seven years. Tuzun will join Bank of Montreal on Nov. 16 as deputy CFO and will become CFO on Jan. 1, after a transition period.

• Fifth Third's chief human resources officer, Bob Shaffer, is filling Leonard's CRO role, the Cincinnati-based bank said. Peg Jula, an HR leader at the bank since 1991, will subsequently fill the CHRO role.

Dive Insight:

"Tayfun, who has led finance with grace, skill and wisdom, is leaving the bank to continue his own professional growth," Fifth Third CEO Greg Carmichael said in the release. "We appreciate his clear leadership, including strengthening our balance sheet to perform well even during challenging economic environments."

Tuzun is the second C-suite exec to leave Fifth Third in the past two weeks. Executive Vice President Philip McHugh left the bank Oct. 26, the same day it named Tim Spence president, sparking speculation Spence may be in line to succeed Carmichael as CEO. 

McHugh, 56, filed a lawsuit alleging age discrimination against Fifth Third in selecting Spence, 41, instead of him as president, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported. Fifth Third countersued McHugh on Oct. 30.

In joining BMO, Tuzun moves to the eighth-largest bank in North America, with $974 billion in assets, nearly five times the size of $202 billion-asset Fifth Third.

"He's a tech-savvy, transformation-savvy CFO," Darryl White, BMO's CEO, told The Globe and Mail. "We thought that the time was right for us to bring in some fresh talent from the outside for this particular role."

Nonetheless, White said Tuzun's arrival would herald "no shift in direction" for the strategy of Canada's fourth-largest bank. Tuzun joins BMO as two longtime execs transition to new roles. Tom Flynn, BMO's outgoing CFO who joined the bank in 1992, will become the company's vice chair. Simon Fish, the bank's general counsel, is leaving that role Jan. 1 to become a special adviser to White. Tuzun will be based in Chicago, home to Bank of Montreal's $153 billion U.S. arm, BMO Harris.

Tuzun joined Fifth Third in 2007 as structured finance manager. In the interceding years, he moved from balance sheet manager to assistant treasurer, to treasurer, and finally to CFO in 2013.

"I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to the tremendous success of Fifth Third and its employees," Tuzun said in Fifth Third's release. "I'm confident the strength of Fifth Third's strategy and leadership team will see many further successes in the future."

Leonard joined Fifth Third in 1999 as its commercial CFO. He later served as director of business planning and analysis before succeeding Tuzun in the treasurer role when Tuzun became CFO in 2013. Leonard was named chief risk officer in January. 

"Jamie has played a critical role in our risk management and treasury activities, and we are fortunate to have someone with his experience and skills who can seamlessly step into the chief financial officer role at Fifth Third," Carmichael said. "Jamie's vast knowledge of our financial performance is unrivaled, as is his astute ability to identify and manage risk."