– VersaBank’s New High-Volume Mortgage App Enables it to Pursue the $200 Billion Canadian Home Financing Market –
VersaBank (“VersaBank” or the “Bank”) (TSX:VB) today announced that it has appointed veteran real estate finance executive, Jim Gardiner, to the position of Product Champion, Instant Mortgage, to lead the Bank’s new Instant Mortgage lending business. Mr. Gardiner brings more than thirty years of real estate lending experience to VersaBank’s Instant Mortgage business. Based on the same underlying technology and value proposition as VersaBank’s highly successful Point-of-Sale software solution for “big ticket” consumer purchases, Instant Mortgage is a high-volume application for real estate developers and brokers that enables the Bank to meaningfully enter the $200-billion home financing market, creating its third lending vertical.
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“Instant Mortgage represents an extraordinary new growth opportunity to apply VersaBank’s proven, proprietary Point-of-Sale software solution to an entirely new and very large business vertical in pursuit of continued outsized long-term growth,” said David Taylor, President and CEO, VersaBank. “Our Point-of-Sale software solution already provides more than 20 financial partners with nearly $1 billion of loans and leases and we look to replicate and surpass that success with our Instant Mortgage solution. Importantly, the launch of Instant Mortgage will further capitalize on the significant operating leverage within our business model as a fully digital Bank.”
Mr. Taylor added, “Jim is the right person to lead this new business and I have the utmost confidence in his ability to champion its success. His specific expertise and extensive industry relationships will be invaluable to maximizing the potential of this opportunity, as the Bank continues to deploy in excess of $2 billion across all of our lending verticals in pursuit of superior net interest margins while mitigating risk.”
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“VersaBank’s Instant Mortgage offering is by far the most innovative residential mortgage finance solution I have seen in my career,” said Mr. Gardiner. “It is truly revolutionary. Nothing else like it exists today. VersaBank has once again used its proprietary banking technology to address a significant unmet need in the marketplace – rapid, direct access to loan capital, in a pre-construction sales environment, is a game changer for the real estate industry. I know that our partners will appreciate VersaBank’s seamless technology to facilitate the sales process and drive their sales volumes. I look forward to taking the reins on this tremendous opportunity and working with David and the rest of the VersaBank team to drive the success of this for the Bank, as well as its shareholders.”
Prior to joining VersaBank, Mr. Gardiner was Regional Vice President – Commercial Services for Southwestern Ontario (and prior thereto, Director, Real Estate Development) at Meridian Credit Union, where he leveraged his extensive network, his land development and construction expertise and his leadership capabilities to propel the expansion of the Meridian Southwestern Region’s book of business. Before joining Meridian, he was Commercial Lending Director at Central 1 Credit Union, Regional Manager – Real Estate at Pacific & Western Bank and held multiple positions at TD Bank Group.
