The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Geoffrey Kwan - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: Sorry. Can you hear me now?
Question: Geoffrey Kwan - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: Yes. Okay. I just had a couple of questions. My first one was just the increased guidance that you have in the alternative and the commercial finance.
I mean it's up quite a bit from your original guidance. Just was wondering if there are specific things that you would flag that you were seeing, I
guess, since you originally kind of were thinking about growth for 2021? Like where do you see that growth happening?
Question: Geoffrey Kwan - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: I guess I just want to make sure I understand the comments around the market share there on the alternative side was -- I mean it's not that it's
been a lot of time, I guess, in between the original guidance and now the increased amount. Was it the case then when you had your original
guidance, you were expecting 2021 to still be pretty cautious around lending in that space, and then now you feel that you're comfortable being
more active and that's what's driving it?
Question: Geoffrey Kwan - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. And just my other question, which is with the success you're having with the EQ Bank and the rollout, you're seeing a very significant increase
in your deposits, in particular, looking at your demand deposits. I think today, that's somewhere a little under 20-ish percent or so of your overall
funding. And that's, I think, up almost double where it would have been a year ago. Just wanted to get your thoughts on how this dynamic, how
it kind of changes, how you think about how you're originating loans against those types of deposits, again, given the significant growth in deposits
over the past year?
Question: Etienne Ricard - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: The first question I'd like to -- on the funding side, talk about deposit notes. And I mean, it's great to see a declining spread on your latest issuance.
And I wanted to know what percentage of your deposits do you believe -- deposit notes could represent longer term? And how much lower do
you believe this spread can go?
Question: Etienne Ricard - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Yes. I mean...
Question: Etienne Ricard - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Okay. So if I heard you correctly, over the next few years, you could double the size, the absolutely dollar particularly with deposit notes?
Question: Etienne Ricard - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst
: Okay. Great. And -- but you continue to sell your accumulation platform. And this might be a high-level question, but how do you believe the
pandemic has impacted industry growth prospects of reverse mortgages? And by how much do you believe this can grow longer term?
Question: Jaeme Gloyn - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: So first question is on the customer engagement. You sort of made some qualitative comments about increasing engagement substantially. Can
you provide any -- provide any more quantitative numbers around that in terms of products and services customers are using and how that has
expanded?
Question: Jaeme Gloyn - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. That's helpful. And so what does that mean then in terms of number of products that a customer uses? Like, what's an average customer
using today, like 2, 3 products? What is it?
Question: Jaeme Gloyn - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. We'll follow-up on that. Still on the EQ Bank platform, I got an e-mail and rates were moving lower on some of the savings products and
interest rate accounts. Did you notice any reaction from any clients as a result of that lower recently?
Question: Jaeme Gloyn - National Bank Financial, Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. That's good to hear. And last one, maybe as briefly as you can, since it's after the hour here. On the reverse mortgages, the growth has been
strong, but at sort of like less than or right around $100 million versus the #1 peer that has like $3.8 billion. I'm just -- I'm wondering what's preventing
a more aggressive approach than just, say, doubling or tripling the book given the size of the market that's available?
| 
