Andrew Moor, CEO of EQ Bank, in 2023. Mr. Moor died at age 65 over the weekend, the bank said on Tuesday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Equitable Bank chief executive officer Andrew Moor – who built Canada’s largest challenger to the Big Six banks – died unexpectedly over the weekend at age 65.
Mr. Moor, who led EQ Bank as CEO for 18 years, was known for growing the lender into a major national business, and for recognizing and developing talent.
The bank confirmed his death in a statement Tuesday morning and named Marlene Lenarduzzi, the bank’s chief risk officer, as interim CEO effective immediately.
Mr. Moor “built a team that reflects the very best of his values – genuine, kind, capable – and leaves behind not just a legacy, but a foundation for continued success,” EQ Bank board chair Vincenza Sera said in a statement. “He led with warmth, intellect and deep humanity. He championed people, empowered them and believed in growing from within.”
Mr. Moor and the bank’s board had recently been working on succession planning.
“This process was very advanced at the time of his passing, and the board expects to be able to announce his permanent successor in the very near term,” bank spokesperson Maggie Hall said in a statement.
EQ Bank did not disclose the cause of death. Three sources said Mr. Moor is believed to have suffered a heart attack on Sunday.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Mr. Moor led the digital bank since 2007 and built it into a challenger to Canada’s six major lenders, with $134-billion in assets under management and administration.
Finance entrepreneur Stephen Smith first became friends with Andrew Moor in 1990, when both their wives were expectant mothers, in the same prenatal group. Mr. Smith, co-founder of First National Financial Corp. subsequently became the largest shareholder in Equitable Bank, with a 20-per-cent stake.
“Andrew was a visionary leader, highly strategic in the way he built Equitable and allocated capital, while hugely personable in his ability to walk around the office and motivate employees,” Mr. Smith said in an interview. “Andrew had a wonderful ability to be outspoken without being offensive.”
Mahima Poddar, EQ Bank’s former head of personal banking, said Mr. Moor was the reason she joined the lender in 2016 when it was still building a presence in the industry. Identifying and empowering talent was one of his greatest gifts, she said.
“Andrew gave me more rope than I probably deserved at the start, but it was exactly what I needed to grow,” she said in a statement. “The wins I had at Equitable were because he backed me, gave me space and stood behind me. He created an environment where people could succeed by being themselves – a rare thing in any organization.”
“His belief in me changed the course of my career – and my life,” she said.
Mr. Moor, who served on the executive committee of the Canadian Bankers Association, was part of the recruitment team that appointed the CBA’s current leader. When CBA CEO Anthony Ostler first met him during an interview for the top job in 2021, Mr. Moor was wearing a black blazer with a bright yellow EQ Bank T-shirt.
From the questions Mr. Moor asked, Mr. Ostler quickly gleaned that the CEO was a “tireless advocate” for Canada’s smaller banks and wanted to ensure that the next head of the CBA would also consider the needs of these lenders.
“He loved a good debate, but always with a twinkle in his eyes and a big laugh. He liked to dig into things and peel away the layers of the onions in discussions, so it was fun to have a glass of wine with him because you would always come out of it having thought about things differently,” Mr. Ostler said in an interview.
“He wasn’t afraid to make waves, but always in the desire to advance things, not to break them.”
Sonia Baxendale, CEO of the Global Risk Institute and former head of retail banking at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, knew Mr. Moor as an industry colleague for more than two decades, and said he was confident and brave. Among Canada’s big banks, he garnered respect for his ability to push the envelope and made people pay attention to EQ Bank, she said.
In January, 2023, EQ Bank launched a credit card that allowed customers to withdraw cash for free at any automated teller machine in Canada while earning cash back and high interest. The product was first viewed as a gimmick by some people in the industry, but it quickly attracted attention from a younger generation of clients, Ms. Baxendale said.
“I don’t think anybody outside of a large financial institution has had as big an impact as Andrew Moor, and his impact was only recently really becoming recognized in terms of the success of his organization and it’s market success,” Ms. Baxendale said in an interview.
“He was a competitive threat to the industry and to other players.”
He was also a vocal challenger for open banking – a movement to drive innovation and customer choice in banking by creating a secure way to compel financial institutions to share a customer’s financial data at their request.
Senator Colin Deacon, a leading voice among parliamentarians pushing for greater competition in banking, said Mr. Moor “showed us how to do it.”
“He was struggling within the banking sector to have the regulations adjust to the future he was making,” Mr. Deacon said. “The regulations in so many ways were stuck in the past, and he just continued to fight through that in a really constructive and positive way.”
Adam Felesky, co-founder and CEO of fintech venture capital firm Portage, which is an affiliate of Power Corp. of Canada, called Mr. Moor a trailblazer.
“He proved that you could create a successful competitive bank offering in the Canadian market. He was a strong voice of more competition and access to critical banking infrastructure.”
Daniel Eberhard, CEO of Vancouver-based digital bank Koho, said Mr. Moor was “a pioneer.”
“So many of this generation of fintech builders looked up to Andrew for all he had done for the ecosystem and for Canada,” Mr. Eberhard said.
“More than that though, he was kind, gregarious, and always willing to get on the phone and help.”
Mr. Moor is survived by his wife, his son and two daughters.
“He was a family man through and through. He lit up when he spoke about his kids – always so proud, always smiling,” Ms. Poddar said. “That love, that sense of what really mattered, showed up in everything he did.”
Mr. Moor joined EQ Bank at the outset of the financial crisis when the lender had 107 employees, $4.4-billion of assets under administration and operated as regional trust company. It is now Canada’s seventh-largest bank and has nearly 2,000 employees.
“In the early days he not only knew every employee’s name, he generally knew their partners’ names and often the kids’ names,” former EQ Bank board chair David LeGresley said.
With files from Andrew Willis and Tim Kiladze