Amid signals the Bank of Canada may hike its key interest rate, those on the edge of being able to afford their payments may want to lock in rates now.

Canada’s economy is red-hot these days. And that’s the principal reason why Canadians could see mortgage rates rising before the end of the year.

In the first quarter of this year, Canada recorded a 3.7-per-cent annualized pace of economic growth, the strongest among G7 countries. Canada added 77,000 full-time jobs in May, and over the past year, the country has seen total jobs increase by 1.8 per cent, faster than population growth.

When an economy strengthens, there is less slack and inflation typically picks up. When inflation picks up, central banks raise interest rates.

So far, inflation has been tepid in Canada. But every sign points to that changing soon. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said this week that the low interest rates put into place in 2015 to fight the oil price collapse have “done their work.” That is as clear a sign as you’re going to get from a central banker that they are leaning towards raising rates.

Read more:

A Return To ‘Normal’ Mortgage Rates Would Crush Canadians
Canada’s Banks Resist Plan For Them To Take On More Mortgage Risk

As recently as a month ago, most analysts saw the Bank of Canada hiking rates no earlier than early 2018…

Bank of Canada Senior Deputy governor, Carolyn Wilkins, made headlines this week when she hinted of pending rate hikes. The reaction by investors was swift.  Bond yields were up 20bps. Fixed mortgage rates are priced from Gov of Cda bond yields.  Variable mortgage rates are priced from Bank of Canada rate.  And the next Bank […]

OTTAWA — Homeowners with variable rate mortgages losing sleep over the increased chatter about a potential interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada should consider locking their rates in now, mortgage experts say.
James Laird, co-founder of interest rate-comparison website RateHub, says in order to stick with the variable option you need to be able to handle fluctuating rates.
“Rates might go up much faster than anyone is expecting and so if you’re right on the border of being able to afford your mortgage payment and you’re able to lock in an affordable payment for five years, you should definitely do that,” Laird said.
Recent comments by the Bank of Canada have prompted speculation that it may move to raise its key interest rate sooner than many economists had expected.
The central bank has kept the rate on hold at 0.5 per cent after cutting it twice in 2015 in an effort to boost the economy.
An increase in the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate target will prompt the country’s big banks to raise their prime rates, which will push the rate charged on variable rate mortgages higher…

For the third time in six months, the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate – this time, by a quarter-point. The announcement, widely predicted by economists, is the latest vote of confidence in the U.S. economy. It’s also an indication that Federal Reserve Chairperson, Janet Yellen, is seeking to normalize rates from the rock bottom lows they’ve sat around since the financial crisis in 2008.
Starting now, short-term rates in the U.S. will range from 1 to 1.25 per cent.  The Fed also announced it plans to gradually start paring its $4.5 trillion investment in treasury and mortgage bond holdings by $6 billion a month, meaning long-term rates will start to rise too.
The increase does mean higher borrowings costs for consumers and businesses, but better returns for Americans with money in the bank.
The rate hike comes despite the fact that 2017 (in the U.S.) is off to a sluggish start. The Fed predicts this is temporary and expects the economy to pick up steam for the remainder of the year…

This Father’s Day, celebrate being a new parent with these tips on how to save on baby essentials.
As a new parent, it’s very easy to go overboard on spending. After all, who wouldn’t want to shower an adorable new human with an influx of cute items? The truth is, you can spend as much or as little as you want and still have all the necessities for your little one. These days, there are so many creative ways to be thrifty while continuing to get high quality products.
Here are a few ways to become a shopping-savvy, frugal parent:
Use loyalty points
Loyalty points are a great way to stretch your dollars that extra mile further. New parents will see their expenses increase in certain areas (can we say diapers?), so lining up a good credit card or two will mean savings down the road. Here are a few of our favourite picks for new parents based on loyalty points for groceries, pharmacy purchases, and maybe a movie or two with your tot:
President’s Choice Financial® World Elite MasterCard®: Diapers and baby food will surely eat at your grocery bill, so you might as well reap the benefits from a grocery rewards card…

Q: I’m a Canadian citizen, but a non-resident living and working in South Korea. I am 47-years-old, and recently received a settlement from a motorcycle accident and now, along with my previous savings, I have about $125,000+ to invest. I have previous RRSPs, but I know that I cannot invest any further in those. I do not feel comfortable leaving such a significant amount of money in South Korea considering the volatile nature of the North.
I would like put a significant piece of that money into a passive investment such as a Vanguard index fund and do some more active investing with the rest. However, I do not want to lose my non-resident status. Would I be better off investing in Canada, the U.S., or elsewhere? I’m not sure I will be moving back to Canada when I retire but have no plans on giving up my Canadian citizenship. I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.
— Brian W.
A: I’m sorry about your accident Brian. You will certainly want to discuss your investment options with an investment advisor but I can provide some information on your tax questions…

Canadians owed $1.67 in consumer credit, mortgages, and non-mortgage loans for every dollar of household disposable income in the first quarter of 2017, a slight quarterly decrease as household net worth rose from the end of 2016.

TORONTO — Canada’s federal housing agency says the average scheduled monthly mortgage payment for new loans climbed to $1,328 in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 4.6 per cent from $1,269 a year ago.

The increase came as house prices continued to rise, particularly in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver and their surrounding areas.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the fact that the average scheduled monthly payment is growing faster than inflation is concerning because it suggests that homeowners could struggle to make their payments going forward.

In Toronto, the average payment was $1,826 during the fourth quarter of last year, up 11.5 per cent from $1,638 a year prior.

In Vancouver, it rose by 4.5 per cent to $1,936 from $1,853 in the fourth quarter of 2015.

CMHC, which obtained the data from credit monitoring agency Equifax, says mortgage delinquency rates during the fourth quarter of 2016 were 0.34 per cent nationwide compared with 0.35 per cent a year earlier.

What’s Going On In Housing?
Our weekly newsletter delivers the news and analysis you need on Canada’s housing market…

If you receive a large refund every year, you’re paying to much. Here’s how to cut it.

Canadians owed $1.67 in consumer credit, mortgages, and non-mortgage loans for every dollar of household disposable income in the first quarter of 2017, a slight quarterly decrease as household net worth rose from the end of 2016.

One of the seemingly unintended groups to fall victim to the government’s latest mortgage changes is owners of mobile homes, according to some concerned mortgage brokers who are seeing the effects on their clients. The issue stems from the new rule that prohibits insured properties from being refinanced, and that most lenders require mobile homes […]

Federal MPs are hearing from Canada’s big banks as a parliamentary committee explores allegations of questionable sales practices at major financial institutions.
The committee launched the hearings following media reports citing unnamed employees at some banks who allege they were pressured to sell unnecessary products and services in order to boost profits and hit lofty sales objectives.
Representatives of the country’s largest banks, including CIBC, Scotiabank, TD, BMO, National Bank and RBC, are testifying before the committee.
Officials from the big banks are denying the accusations and defending their practices by insisting they put the needs of their customers first, enforce codes of conduct, regularly seek staff and client feedback and address any inappropriate behaviour.
They all say the allegations in the reports, which were first broadcast by the CBC, are unacceptable and that all issues with client interactions are taken very seriously.
Last week, the committee heard allegations through first- and second-hand accounts made by former bank employees that workers feel pressure to hit unreasonable sales goals, entice clients into raising their credit-card limits and offer mortgages beyond what clients can reasonably afford…

The Problem
David, 31, is an engineer and lives in Toronto with his wife Alex and two-year-old son Leo. Both his father and grandfather were investors and he sees the six-figure estate that he inherited in January as a legacy that he really wants to continue. “My grandfather was a famous mining engineer in Canada and he worked worldwide during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s building up a respectable mining business. He passed away in 1979 and my father managed the portfolio my grandfather left him for several years on his own.”
But in his the last couple of years his father’s ill health meant David had to take on more and more of the responsibility for managing his dad’s investments and he learned a lot. “I now realize that through active management we underperformed,” says David. “We would have done better with a passive strategy.” Apart from modest investments in RRSPs and TFSAs, David also owns a home in Toronto with a small mortgage left on it where he plans to live and grow his family…

TORONTO — Canada’s federal housing agency says the average scheduled monthly mortgage payment for new loans climbed to $1,328 in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 4.6 per cent from $1,269 a year ago.

The increase came as house prices continued to rise, particularly in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver and their surrounding areas.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the fact that the average scheduled monthly payment is growing faster than inflation is concerning because it suggests that homeowners could struggle to make their payments going forward.

In Toronto, the average payment was $1,826 during the fourth quarter of last year, up 11.5 per cent from $1,638 a year prior.

In Vancouver, it rose by 4.5 per cent to $1,936 from $1,853 in the fourth quarter of 2015.

CMHC, which obtained the data from credit monitoring agency Equifax, says mortgage delinquency rates during the fourth quarter of 2016 were 0.34 per cent nationwide compared with 0.35 per cent a year earlier.

What’s Going On In Housing?
Our weekly newsletter delivers the news and analysis you need on Canada’s housing market…

Canadian consumers continued to spend on credit in the first three months of 2017, bringing the average non-mortgage debt across the country to $21,696, up 1.9 per cent annually.

Q: We have three rental properties in Vancouver (one is mortgage free) and own our own home (mortgage free) in the Fraser Valley.
We are both retirement age.
Should we use RRSP/ RRIF or sell the rental properties?
We have been told by different advisors conflicting opinions.
—Lee
A: Congratulations on your upcoming retirement, Lee. If you’ve owned those rental properties for more than a couple years, no doubt you’ve benefited nicely from Vancouver price appreciation.
I’ll tell you right off the bat that this isn’t one of those questions where there is an easy, obvious answer. What you should do is a personal decision, but I’ll try to highlight some of the considerations.
Ask a Planner: Leave your question for Jason Heath »
Selling real estate is expensive. Of course, there’s the obvious real estate commission payable, which is generally 7% on the first $100,000 and 3% on the balance of the sale price in BC. Some agents charge more or less. Some agents do cash back. And companies offering discounted commissions as low as 1% have gained popularity in cities like Vancouver where prices are high…

The Globe and MailUninsured mortgages pose increasing risk, Bank of Canada saysThe Globe and MailThe number of uninsured mortgages is on the rise in Canada, and new risks are emerging alongside these loans, according to the Bank of Canada. The central bank's twice-annual Financial System Review shows that mortgage credit is climbing faster than …House prices and debt loads a growing concern, Bank of Canada saysCBC.caCanada becoming more vulnerable as rising debt and hot housing get worse, bank warnsFinancial PostPace of housing construction slips more than expected in MayToronto StarBNN -570 News -Bloomberg -Nasdaqall 35 news articles »

The central bank’s twice-annual Financial System Review shows that mortgage credit is climbing faster than disposable income in Canada, and Canadians are leaning more heavily on home equity lines of credit, which is helping to push up overall levels of consumer indebtedness

The Bank of Canada is yet again raising the alarm about Canadians’ debt levels, but new data from credit ratings agency TransUnion shows Canadians, overall, are getting better at paying off their debts.

The average Canadian now carries $21,696 in non-mortgage debt, a two-per-cent increase from the first quarter of last year, TransUnion said in a report issued Thursday.

Given that StatsCan data shows incomes grew just 0.9 per cent over the past year, Canadians are taking on debt faster than their incomes are growing.

But TransUnion says delinquency rates on Canadians’ debt are falling. The number of delinquencies — debts overdue by more than 90 days — fell by 1.45 per cent from a year earlier.

Toronto led the way, with a 7.55-per-cent decline in delinquencies — despite a three-per-cent increase in total debt.

Among major cities, Vancouver saw the largest increase in non-mortgage debt (up 4.27 per cent in a year), but the city also saw a 1.85-per-cent increase in delinquencies…

When it comes to selling your home, you have to spend money to make money. Land transfer taxes. Lawyer fees. Mortgage discharge costs. But your biggest cost? Likely your real estate agent’s commission.
It’s been said that Canadian sellers typically pay between three and seven per cent of their home’s selling price to their real estate agent, which is then split with the buyer’s agent – sometimes evenly, sometimes not. And commission adds up, especially in the nation’s hottest markets. Though there’s been speculation of cooling in notoriously hot markets like Toronto and Vancouver due to government intervention, the average selling price of a home in the GTA came in at $890,284 in the beginning of May. That can add up to a lot in commission.
Commission rates in Canada
There is no set rate of commission for real estate agents in Canada or in the individual provinces and territories.
In fact, according to Canada’s Competition Act, to promote free and open competition, commission rates are based on whatever that specific agent wants to charge, and realtors cannot claim that there is a standard rate across the board…

TORONTO — An Ontario regulator says it will not be disciplining 43 of the 45 mortgage brokers and agents that mortgage lender Home Capital cut ties with over allegations they falsified loan applications.

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario said last week it had disciplined a mortgage broker and an agent after finding them to be non-compliant with the province’s Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act.

Signage outside the Home Capital Group Inc. headquarters office in Toronto, Thursday, May 4. Of the 45 agents and brokers with whom Home Capital severed relations over mortgage fraud, only two will be disciplined.

On Thursday, the commission said it concluded its review into all 45 individuals and has not taken any action against 43 of them.

It said last Friday that its superintendent of financial services concluded that agent Zaheer Mohammad gave false income and employment information to a lender in the course of brokering mortgages on six separate occasions.

He was fined $43,853…

The head of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says it is beefing up its ability to detect mortgage fraud after being directed to do so by the federal government.
CMHC president and CEO Evan Siddall says there is no evidence of a widespread mortgage fraud problem.
But Siddall says there are incentives to commit fraud in the system and therefore the agency needs to be vigilant.
Siddall says CMHC’s stepped up efforts were not triggered by recent events at mortgage lender Home Capital, which has been dealing with the aftermath of a scandal involving falsified loan applications.
There have been concerns that Canada’s heated housing markets _ namely those in Toronto and Vancouver _ could have broader consequences on the national economy in the event of a recession.
Siddall says CMHC is looking at ways it can use data analytics to spot patterns that could be indicative of fraud networks or fraud rings.
The post Federal housing agency beefing up ability to detect mortgage fraud, CEO says appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.

Earlier today, a press release was issued announcing the launch of the Mortgage Awards of Excellence, a new industry-driven event taking place on May 3, 2018. There are a number of  different events that recognize and celebrate excellence in the industry so some may be asking the question: Why create a new one? To answer this question, we reached […]

RESPs are a tax-free vehicle for your child’s education funds that also qualify for the Canada Education Savings Grant.

The experts promised us a “barnburner” of a first quarter for Canada’s economy, and the economy delivered.

Canada’s GDP grew at a 3.7-per-cent pace in the first three months of 2017, more than tripling the U.S.’s 1.2-per-cent pace, StatsCan reported on Wednesday.

“Wasn’t it America that was supposed to be made great again? And yet boring old Canada was a first quarter pace of growth that more than tripled what was seen for the U.S. ,” commented TD Bank senior economist Brian DePratto.

DePratto noted that, with this quarter’s results, Canada has seen the fastest pace of economic expansion since 2010, when the country was recovering from the global financial crisis.

Household spending was one of the largest contributors to growth this quarter, increasing at a 4.3-per-cent pace. Auto sales were particularly strong.

But, as CIBC economist Avery Shenfeld noted, consumers’ savings dropped at the same time, suggesting Canadians spent their savings and went further into debt to consume this quarter — a reality that can’t continue forever…

RESPs are a tax-free vehicle for your child’s education funds that also qualify for the Canada Education Savings Grant.

Q: My husband is 65 and will soon be “paid off” to retire. The reason he’s still working is because we still have a sizable credit line debt of $50,000. (no mortgage or credit card debt). My husband will have a healthy DC pension that could pay us about $25,000 a year if we buy an annuity. As all the experts say you shouldn’t retire with debt, I was thinking of taking out the amount we owe from my small private pension and paying off the debt. I know that I will be hit with taxes but at least we will be debt-free. What is your opinion on this?
— Judy M.
A: Paying off debt is an effective part of your overall retirement readiness although it doesn’t have to be absolute. In today’s low-interest environment, servicing debt is quite cheap so paying extra tax unnecessarily may be more expensive than the debt interest payments.
Start by ensuring you are paying the lowest interest rate available. Taking out a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) will reduce your interest rate to 3…

Retiring at age 50 can be a tall order as you are financing a retirement lifestyle that could be 40+ years long. Heather and Dereck hope to accomplish this in just 9 years. Is their savings plan enough?
The current situation
Heather and Dereck Irwin are both 41 and live in Woodstock, Ont. Heather is a project coordinator working with kids with special needs earnings $50,000 annually, while Dereck is an electrician earning $120,000 a year. Not only does this couple have stressful jobs, Dereck’s job requires a lot of shift work, which makes spending time together difficult. The Irwins, who don’t have any kids, are true do-it-yourselfers. “We cook everything ourselves, I fix our vehicles myself and we do all the renovations and maintenance on our home,” says Dereck. “We just like it that way.”
Right now, the couple has a home valued at $350,000 with a $225,000 mortgage on it. They also have RRSPs and TFSAs that total $468,000 plus they will receive pension benefits. Their goal is to retire at age 50 with $60,000 gross per year in income from their portfolio, taking into account 2% inflation annually…

Home Capital Group says it has drawn down a further $250 million this week from its emergency line of credit to repay deposit notes due Wednesday.
That leaves the Toronto-based mortgage company (TSX:HCG) with $350 million left from a $2 billion line of credit provided by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan late last month.
The pension plan provided the loan after Home Capital’s customers began to drain their high-interest savings accounts.
The flood of deposit withdrawals followed allegations filed against Home Capital in April.
Home Capital has denied accusations that it misled investors in statements and comments issued by senior executives, including two former CEOs and a third man who was the lender’s chief financial officer at the time.
The post Home Capital draws $250 million more from emergency line of credit appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.

TORONTO — Home Capital Group says it has drawn down a further $250 million this week from its emergency line of credit to repay deposit notes due Wednesday.

That leaves the Toronto-based mortgage company (TSX:HCG) with $350 million left from a $2 billion line of credit provided by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan late last month.

The pension plan provided the loan after Home Capital’s customers began to drain their high-interest savings accounts.

The flood of deposit withdrawals followed allegations filed against Home Capital in April.

Home Capital has denied accusations that it misled investors in statements and comments issued by senior executives, including two former CEOs and a third man who was the lender’s chief financial officer at the time.

The Home Stretch
Our weekly newsletter delivers the news and analysis you need on Canada’s housing market. Sign up below and don’t miss an issue

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Nearly three quarters of Canadian homeowners say they would have difficulty paying their mortgage if their payments were to increase by more than 10 per cent, says a new survey by Manulife Bank.
Thirty-eight per cent of those polled say their mortgage bills could rise between one to five per cent before they would have financial difficulty; 20 per cent say they could sustain an increase in payments between six to 10 per cent before having trouble; and 14 per cent say any hike would be a problem.
Twenty-two per cent said they could handle a payment increase of between 11 to 30 per cent, while the remaining seven per cent didn’t know or were unsure.
“What these people don’t realize is that we’re at record low interest rates today,” said Rick Lunny, president and CEO of Manulife Bank (TSX:MFC), adding that a 10 per cent increase in mortgage payments could be the result of as little as a one per cent interest hike.
“When you put it into that context, they’re not really prepared for what is inevitable…

TORONTO — Home Capital Group says it has drawn down a further $250 million this week from its emergency line of credit to repay deposit notes due Wednesday.

That leaves the Toronto-based mortgage company (TSX:HCG) with $350 million left from a $2 billion line of credit provided by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan late last month.

The pension plan provided the loan after Home Capital’s customers began to drain their high-interest savings accounts.

The flood of deposit withdrawals followed allegations filed against Home Capital in April.

Home Capital has denied accusations that it misled investors in statements and comments issued by senior executives, including two former CEOs and a third man who was the lender’s chief financial officer at the time.

The Home Stretch
Our weekly newsletter delivers the news and analysis you need on Canada’s housing market. Sign up below and don’t miss an issue

(function () { var e = document.createElement(‘script’); e.type = ‘text/javascript’; e…

TORONTO — Nearly three quarters of Canadian homeowners say they would have difficulty paying their mortgage if their payments were to increase by more than 10 per cent, says a new survey by Manulife Bank.

Thirty-eight per cent of those polled say their mortgage bills could rise between one to five per cent before they would have financial difficulty; 20 per cent say they could sustain an increase in payments between six to 10 per cent before having trouble; and 14 per cent say any hike would be a problem.

Twenty-two per cent said they could handle a payment increase of between 11 to 30 per cent, while the remaining seven per cent didn’t know or were unsure.

“What these people don’t realize is that we’re at record low interest rates today,” said Rick Lunny, president and CEO of Manulife Bank (TSX:MFC), adding that a 10 per cent increase in mortgage payments could be the result of as little as a one per cent interest hike.

Many millennials are unprepared to deal with a financial emergency due to a lack of financial literacy and soaring amounts of debt…

Housing affordability questions have placed homeownership and public policy near the top of the national agenda, as mortgage brokers know. Most of the commentary has been focused on the extent to which government policy, particularly with regards to supply, is contributing to the affordability challenges. This debate is ongoing and will not be resolved here. […]

Stella & Mat
Stiver-Balla
AGE: 28 and 32
PLACE: Toronto
TFSA TOTAL: $77,210
STRATEGY: Growth and blue-chip stocks

Me and my TFSA
Four years ago was an important time for Mat Stiver-Balla. In 2013 he married his wife Stella, 28, and he began investing in his TFSA.
Like most young investors, Stiver-Balla started his TFSA without really knowing much about investing. The money sat in cash in his account for the first two years until his day, a mortgage broker, started giving him a few pointers on what to do with the account. That was the push Stiver-Bella need to start following the stock markets in newspapers and magazines. “I started teaching myself how to read balance sheets and I started picking stocks based on what numbers I thought looked good,” says Stiver-Balla. It was enough to make him more comfortable with stocks and investing.
Sign up for our free investing newsletter »
He credits MoneySense with his ability to read a balance sheet—especially when it came to understanding key stock metrics and ratios like price-to-earning and price-to-book ratios…

There was no end in sight to the crisis at subprime lender Home Capital this week, with the bank warning the run on its deposits casts doubt on its ability to continue operating.

Home Capital has seen 94 per cent of the deposits in its savings accounts disappear in recent weeks, as depositors fled the bank following allegations from the Ontario Securities Commission that management misled investors about mortgage fraud within its broker network.

The situation is bringing unwanted negative attention to Canada’s financial system from abroad. Bets against the loonie and against Canadian banks are at elevated levels. Ratings agency Moody’s this week downgraded Canada’s Big Six banks, warning that consumer debt levels are too high.

The Home Capital Group Inc. headquarters office is shown in Toronto on May 4, 2017. (Photo: Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Here are the latest developments in the Home Capital saga:

Morneau won’t rule out federal bailout

Finance Minister Bill Morneau did not rule out a taxpayer-funded bailout of Home Capital in an interview this week, but said he is looking for the private sector to find a solution…

Retiring at age 50 can be a tall order as you are financing a retirement lifestyle that could be 40+ years long. Heather and Dereck hope to accomplish this in just 9 years. Is their savings plan enough?
The current situation
Heather and Dereck Irwin are both 41 and live in Woodstock, Ont. Heather is a project coordinator working with kids with special needs earnings $50,000 annually, while Dereck is an electrician earning $120,000 a year. Not only does this couple have stressful jobs, Dereck’s job requires a lot of shift work, which makes spending time together difficult. The Irwins, who don’t have any kids, are true do-it-yourselfers. “We cook everything ourselves, I fix our vehicles myself and we do all the renovations and maintenance on our home,” says Dereck. “We just like it that way.”
Right now, the couple has a home valued at $350,000 with a $225,000 mortgage on it. They also have RRSPs and TFSAs that total $468,000 plus they will receive pension benefits. Their goal is to retire at age 50 with $60,000 gross per year in income from their portfolio, taking into account 2% inflation annually…

TORONTO — Home Capital Corp. says one of its independent directors with extensive regulatory experience will now chair its board of directors as the mortgage company suffers from a further outflow of money from its high-interest savings accounts and GICs.

The Toronto-based mortgage company says its new chair is Brenda Eprile, who joined the Home Capital board last year. She replaces Kevin Smith, who will remain on Home Capital’s board of directors.

Eprile was a senior member of the Ontario Securities Commission staff prior to beginning a 17-year career as a consultant focused on regulatory affairs.

Signage outside the Home Capital Group Inc. headquarters office in Toronto, Ontario, Thursday, May 4, 2017. (Photo: Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The company is also adding two former CEOs of major Ontario pension funds — Claude Lamoureux from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Paul Hagis of OMERS — as well as Sharon Sallows, a trustee for two major real estate trusts…

A subsidiary of alternative mortgage lender Home Capital has struck a deal to sell $1.5 billion worth of mortgage commitments and renewals to an unnamed buyer.

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she expects any provincial appointee or employee involved with troubled alternative mortgage lender Home Capital to step down if they have a conflict of interest. Home Capital is a Toronto lender under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission, which alleges that the company, two former chief executives and […]

Third-party extends a lifeline and opens the door for an outright sale of the embattled alternative lender

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she expects any provincial appointee or employee involved with troubled alternative mortgage lender Home Capital to step down if they have a conflict of interest.
Home Capital is a Toronto-based lender under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission, which alleges that the company, two former CEOs and the current CFO broke the law in their handling of a scandal involving falsified loan applications.
Wynne was asked about Kevin Smith, who is the CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System in the Hamilton and the Niagara areas. Smith was also on the board of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and chairman of the board of Home Capital, until recently.
On April 27, Home Capital announced HOOPP had agreed to provide the company a $2-billion loan and, at that time, Smith advised HOOPP he was stepping down from its board due to that potential conflict. He has since resigned as chair of Home Capital, but remains on the company’s board.
The Progressive Conservatives have questioned whether relationships between the boards of Home Capital, HOOPP, and the provincial government and its agencies are inappropriate…