TORONTO – EQB Inc. says it expects its PC Financial transaction to close on July 1 after the lender secured its final regulatory approval to buy the entity earlier this month.
“As we look ahead to the second half of the year, our business will meaningfully shift with the anticipated July 1 close of our PC Financial transaction — positioning us to serve millions of Canadians as a challenger at scale,” EQB CEO Chadwick Westlake said in a news release Wednesday accompanying its second quarter results.
“Through a new loyalty-linked banking ecosystem, we will provide Canadians with better value, better products, more rewards and new channels, putting real choice and control back into their hands and giving every Canadian the opportunity to get ahead, every day.”
The federal finance minister approved EQB’s deal to buy PC Financial from Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in May, which came after green lights from the federal banking regulator and the Competition Bureau for the deal first announced by the companies in December.
Following the approval, EQB said in May it was expecting the deal to close this summer.
The $800-million cash-and-share deal will see EQ Bank take over PC Financial’s Mastercard and banking customers, boosting its customer base from around 800,000 to 3.3 million.
The EQ Bank brand will replace PC Financial at Loblaw grocery store retail pavilions and ATMs and EQ Bank will become the exclusive financial partner of the 18-million-member Optimum loyalty program. Loblaw will also take a 16 per cent stake in the bank to create a strategic relationship between the two firms as well as satisfy the share portion of the payment.
EQ Bank said that the acquisition will increase its assets by about $5.8 billion and its retail deposits by $800 million.
Also Wednesday, EQB reported adjusted net income of $78.3 million during the second quarter, down from $94.2 million during the same period last year.
On a diluted per-share basis, that amounted to adjusted earnings of $2.03, compared with $2.31 during the prior year quarter.
The owner of EQ Bank says its adjusted net interest income came in at $260.7 million during the three months ended April 30, down year-over-year from $278.1 million.
EQB posted adjusted revenue of $302.4 million, compared with $315.9 million during last year’s second quarter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2026.
Companies in this story: (TSX:EQB)
