EQ Bank Announces New Eight-Floor Toronto Headquarters

Need to Know

• Equitable Bank (EQ Bank) is moving its headquarters to a new 175,000 square-foot location in downtown Toronto. The new space will span eight floors.
• The new 24-story tower will be renamed EQ Bank Tower and will open in Q2 2022.
• The new space will be custom-designed and feature input from EQ Bank’s 900+ employees in order to maximize collaboration.
• EQ Bank is the ninth-largest bank in Canada and focuses on building a digital-first banking experience.

Analysis

Equitable Bank (EQ Bank) is relocating its headquarters to a more central downtown Toronto location in order to build out its digital banking services and connect with consumers.

The new office will be located at 25 Ontario Street. EQ Bank will occupy eight floors of a 24-story new build, with the office space spanning a total 175,000 square feet. The new building will be called EQ Bank Tower. Currently, the largest portion of EQ Bank’s 900+ employees works out of an office tower on St. Clair Avenue, slightly north of the new office location.

“Our current location has served us well these past few decades but we’ve taken it as far as we can,” said Andrew Moor, president and CEO of EQ Bank. “The move of our headquarters from midtown Toronto to the developing Downtown East district allows us to leverage new building designs with larger floorplates to accommodate our growing workforce, while keeping the Toronto team together in one space.

EQ Bank is a digital-first bank that offers services such as unlimited e-transfers and no monthly fees. it is the ninth-largest bank in Canada with over $28 billion in managed assets. EQ Bank totaled $1.15 billion in revenue for 2019.

With a focus on building digital components, EQ Bank sees itself as a direct competitor to some of the biggest financial institutions in Canada due to its ability to move quickly and focus on a mobile and online experience.

“We considered a number of options, including those in the heart of the downtown financial core, but we’ve never seen ourselves as a traditional bank, and we believe this building is the most cost-effective path to achieving our long-term goals, while continuing to pass on savings to customers with our branchless digital approach,” says Moor.

Late last year, EQ Bank shifted its core banking platform to the cloud, a major move for any financial institution. It marked the first bank in Canada to be fully hosted on the cloud. Other banks such as TD have adopted cloud infrastructure but still keep core banking platforms on private data centers.

“As Canada’s Challenger Bank, a collaborative ideas-focused culture is who we are. This move complements our growth with an innovative and state-of-the-art facility that fosters an environment where our employees can collaborate and challenge one another to continue to produce new ideas that will give Canadians a better way to bank,” said Jody Sperling, SVP of human resources at Equitable Bank.