Goeasy CEO Dan Rees will leave his role on Dec. 31.SUPPLIED
Goeasy Ltd. GSY-T is appointing Patrick Ens to be its next chief executive officer as a health issue forces current CEO Dan Rees to step down after nine months leading the alternative lender.
Mr. Rees has a blood disorder “that requires him to resign from his position,” Goeasy said Tuesday, in a news release. He will leave his role on Dec. 31 and stay on as a special adviser to the CEO until June 30, 2026.
Mr. Rees joined Goeasy in March as the company’s first external CEO after nearly 25 years at Bank of Nova Scotia, where he led the Canadian banking division.
“Although my health requires me to step back from the demands of this role, I will be fine, and I remain deeply committed to supporting Patrick and the business through this transition,” Mr. Rees said in a statement.
Goeasy said it first identified Mr. Ens as a potential future CEO in 2023 when he was president of Capital One Canada. He joined Goeasy in 2024 and was president of the company’s Easyfinancial lending unit.
“Patrick was viewed as a succession candidate prior to joining Goeasy and that has only been reinforced since the day he joined our team,” said David Ingram, Goeasy’s executive chair and former CEO.
Goeasy provides loans to people who have bruised or lower credit scores, and struggle to qualify with the Big Six banks and other major lenders. Canadians have been under rising financial stress this year as the impact of inflation and tariffs has put pressure on household budgets.
Mr. Rees joined the company to take on an expansion plan, aiming to add new products and increase its $4.6-billion loan book to $7-billion or $8-billion by 2027.
At the end of Goeasy’s third quarter, its consumer loan book stood at $5.4-billion, and the company reported profit of $33-million.
“While this was an unexpected development for Dan and for Goeasy, we fully respect and support his decision to prioritize his health,” Mr. Ingram said in a statement.
Goeasy’s management team denied the allegations, and bank analysts who cover the company shrugged off the claims. But the company’s stock is still down 33 per cent from September, before the report was published.
“The surprising departure of Dan Rees is untimely, not just because of the ongoing turmoil in goeasy’s executive ranks but will likely add more fuel to the fire around the ongoing issues generated by the recent short-seller’s report,” said Jeffries analyst John Aiken, in a note to clients.
“We believe that this is unfortunate not just for Mr. Rees himself and his health, but could also present additional delays in returning GSY to its previous levels of profitability and growth trajectory,” Mr. Aiken said.