Draft:EQ Bank (Canada)

EQ Bank launched on January 14, 2016, as a direct banking operation of Equitable Bank. . As a completely online banking service, EQ Bank has no branch locations. It does not offer cheques to its customers. EQ Bank is CDIC insured under Equitable Bank.

The primary product offered by EQ Bank is the Savings Account, a high-interest and no-fee savings account. All of EQ Bank's products require a Savings Account.

At launch the bank attracted customers with an interest rate of 3.0%. The rate was lowered on April 18, just 96 days later, to 2.25%. The rate was lowered again to 2.0% on August 25, 2016. In May 2017 the rate was raised to 2.3%. From January to March 2020, the rate peaked at 2.45% before being reduced to 2.0% in response to reductions of the Bank of Canada interest rates due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Savings Plus Account interest rate continued to reduce periodically, hitting a low of 1.25% in July 2021. In April 2022, EQ Bank began incrementally increasing its interest rate over a period of several months. As of October 2022, the interest rate for the Savings Plus Account is 2.50%.

EQ Bank began offering guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) in May 2018. The bank offers GICs from 3 month to 10-year terms.

EQ Bank moved its core banking system onto Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure in November 2019. EQ Bank is the first bank in Canada to be hosted in the cloud.

In 2019, it launched an international money transfer service in partnership with TransferWise (now known as Wise). On February 6, 2020, the bank announced the addition of 15 new currencies, allowing conversions of over 40+ countries.

The Joint Savings Account, which allows customers to invite up to three other people, for a total of four account co-holders, was introduced in July 2020.

The EQ Bank Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) and the EQ Bank Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) were introduced in December 2020. Both products have no fees and can be opened online.

In May 2021, EQ Bank announced the launch of its Mortgage Marketplace, a digital service that will allow customers to shop over 2,000 mortgage products offered by various Canadian lenders. In partnership with nesto, a digital mortgage brokerage, users have the ability to be pre-qualified for a mortgage online and receive regular digital updates on the status of their application.

EQ Bank launched the EQ Bank US Dollar Account in June 2021. The no-fee account gives EQ Bank customers the ability to send US dollars internationally.

In January 2023, EQ Bank announced the launch of the EQ Bank Card, a prepaid reloadable Mastercard. The card features no foreign exchange fee, and free ATM withdrawals within Canada; fees are refunded within 10 business days. At launch, the EQ Bank Card offered a 0.5% cashback rate, with the card balance earning interest at the same rate as the Savings Plus Account.

As of February 2023, EQ Bank has over 308,000 customers and $7.9B in deposits. This follows the milestones of $5 billion in February 2021, preceded by $3 billion and $4 billion of deposits, both achieved in 2020.

Products & Services

 * Savings Account
 * Joint Savings Account
 * EQ Bank US Dollar Account
 * Mortgage Marketplace
 * EQ Bank Tax-Free Savings Account
 * EQ Bank Retirement Savings Plan
 * EQ Bank First House Savings Account
 * EQ Bank Card
 * International money transfers
 * Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GIC)
 * Business Account

Controversy
Upon launch, demand for EQ Bank's 3% interest rate offer overwhelmed the bank's operations, leading to long customer service wait times and delays in account activations. In March 2016, within three months of launch, it began to limit the number of people who could sign up for and then, implementing a reservation system on its website. A limited number of people would then be invited to sign up every week.

CEO Andrew Moor admitted to underestimating the response from Canadians.

Awards
In April 2021, EQ Bank was named the #1 Bank in Canada on the Forbes list of World's Best Banks 2021. The World's Best Banks were selected based on over 43,000 consumer surveys representing 28 different countries.

In April 2022, EQ Bank was named the #1 Bank in Canada on the Forbes list of World's Best Banks 2022.

In April 2023, EQ Bank was named the #1 Bank in Canada on the Forbes list of World's Best Banks 2023. This is the third year in a row that EQ Bank has been awarded best bank in Canada