EQB Inc at RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : All day long, we've been going and asking very direct questions about performance and ROE and all sorts of stuff so I just want to dive right away into a few things with respect to your bank. I want, I think, to start with growth expectations and, in particular, revenue growth. As I absorbed your guidance in the last conference call, essentially, you're expecting loans under management to grow about 10%, sorry, in high-single digits. Last year, in '25, you had 10%. But revenue was actually slightly down. Maybe we can talk a little bit about the expectation for revenue growth in 2026. To put a finer point on it, I think you're expecting flat-to-slightly positive operating leverage, with low-single-digit expense growth, which

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Is that mostly then an NII story or a [fee]? Like, how should I think of that, when you're growing these different buckets?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : That's a great segue into the next question. What about the expectations for -- we didn't quite get a PCL guide from --

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : I tried. How should we think about improvement, yes? How significant a component of the 12% to 15% EPS growth can credit be?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Equipment finance, can we just touch on that real quick? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 06, 2026 / 7:00PM, EQB.TO - EQB Inc at RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Is it still a business that you think can achieve the ROE objectives or is it still too early to tell?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. And then, just to finish up on credit quality, I think the way we think about the mortgage business is, typically, you said you went loan by loan, almost. And so the cohort that you had talked about in the fourth quarter was, like, a [GTA, suburbs] 2022 vintage. You've gone through it. I don't know if you can maybe talk to this but what are the early signs for further delinquency or other formations in this book? How should we think about, possibly, top up? Because, as you said, there's a little bit of the accounting holding you back from -- so could we expect something like that in the first quarter or two?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. Earlier you, you're rather emphatic about the expense control and that we should see it right away. What is the efficient -- like, what

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Yeah. Let's talk about that. You've announced the deal. We grabbed what information was available from the regulatory site. We slammed it together with your model. And so you know it's not perfect. There's going to be mistakes in my model because I don't even know if there's any adjustments I should be making. How should I think about the combined efficiency ratio? What opportunities do you see there at PCF on the cost side?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : And so just thinking about then -- we'll move this beyond just efficiency, which is, let's think about all of these opportunities. 17.5 million members --

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : -- in Optimum. You have free opportunity there to convert them to your customers. Does that -- I can envision a number of things. I can maybe put PC Optimum points on the deposit product. You've got a license, I think, to issue PC Optimum points, right? So how should we think about the cross-sell opportunity and how aggressively do you pursue it, mindful of risks and so on?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : You mentioned in the in the discussion there that you're picking up pavilions, ATMs, things you've never had before.

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : How should we think about that? Is that something that you would grow or expand? How should we think about that?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : No early plans to expand (inaudible) --?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : You mentioned that you're, like, picking up an auto insurance distribution business. It was never something that I thought -- how do you -- was this just an ancillary feature or is this a business that you think you could also grow and expand?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : You became the CEO and, relatively, quick out of the gates, you do the PC deal. And then, you mentioned wealth just a bit ago, you might be able to -- so should we start to prepare ourselves for another potential move by or how aggressively are you trying to charge down the wealth business; and entering and providing a wealth offering? Is it possible that you're even thinking about doing this organically or in-house?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. Shifting gears a little bit to capital, you had mentioned the potential of managing your CET1 down, over time. You ended at 13.3%. You just announced an [AARB]. Maybe you can just give a little bit of a highlight on that recent press release that we saw on --

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : -- yeah, the NCIB; and what your thoughts were around that.

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. I'm going to quickly shift, see if there's anything from the audience here, in terms of questions. Okay. First question: Was the Challenger Bank culture attractive for Loblaw? What was it about EQB that attracted Loblaw versus doing this with one of the large banks?

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. I was going to ask another one but I think we're running out of time here. The timer is running down. I'm going to throw it back to you first: The key takeaways that you want to leave with investors today.

Question: Darko Mihelic - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Okay. With that, we'll close the session and the conference. Chadwick, thank you very much. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. JANUARY 06, 2026 / 7:00PM, EQB.TO - EQB Inc at RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference