Equitable Bank is getting back into the prime lending space with a new product suite available exclusively to Dominion Lending Centres Group (DLCG) brokers.
The new brand, Illuma, has recently been made available to select brokers for high-ratio insured borrowers. It includes a 5-year fixed product with a rate of 4.19%, and a 5-year Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM) currently offered at P – 0.80%, with broker compensation set at 110 bps for each, DLCG told Canadian Mortgage Trends.
While rates are in line with industry averages, DLCG president Eddy Cocciollo believes the real competitive differentiator will be service, which he says is especially important in the first-time home buyer heavy product category.
“We want the speed of response to be the ‘wow’ factor, so that first-time buyers, especially, feel really good and feel like that broker is the hero,” he says. “Our brokers can feel like Illuma is an extension of their business, and the idea is for service to be at the top echelon of what’s out in the industry, and the rate and commission are very competitive.”
In early testing of the product, Cocciollo says brokers were themselves ‘wowed’ at the speed and ease of the application process.
“That’s what we were aiming for; for these brokers to react in a way where it felt smooth, it was easy, there wasn’t a lot of red tape, and the response was immediate,” he says. “It has all the pieces to help brokers win more deals.”
How the partnership came together
Cocciollo says that soon after Equitable exited the segment in 2024, he had the privilege of playing a round of golf with late Equitable Bank CEO Andrew Moore during the company’s annual charity tournament.
“We were just talking about the opportunities that could arise from the prime product they once were in,” he says. “I said, ‘Is there a way that — since I know there’s limitations on that pool of funds — that we could partner and get you back into the prime space?’”
What followed was a series of meetings, an agreement, and a naming contest, ultimately resulting in a new white label prime lending product suite exclusive to DLCG brokers under the Illuma brand.
“It’s important for us to offer our best brokers the best products, and this is just another one of those,” Cocciollo says. “For Equitable Bank — who came out of the prime market due to poor efficiencies and unfavourable economic at the time — it allows them to be better in those efficiencies and be more focused on one [broker network], which is DLCG.”
Why Equitable is back in the prime business
Equitable backed away from the A-mortgage market back in 2024 due to “the realities of market fundamentals at the time,” according to Vice President of Residential Credit, Michael Wolfe.
He explains that the cost of maintaining a competitive prime offering outweighed the potential benefits at that time.
“Illuma exists in a different environment and format than previously, where the changes to mortgage insurance rules support a re-entry of this nature, despite ongoing housing market pressure,” Wolfe says. “As a challenger brand, we’ve always been known for doing a few things exceptionally well and this collaborative opportunity with DLCG presented a creative new way to re-enter the segment with that same degree of intention.”
Wolfe adds that the focus on insured mortgages allows both parties to streamline operations and ensure compliance while maintaining competitive rates.
“Both of us benefit from more effective systems, cost reduction and faster, more reliable service for our borrower customers,” he says. “Efficiencies are paramount to both brokers and lenders to efficiently move ahead in a highly dynamic and competitive market as borrower needs and expectations change.”
Room to expand
In late January, a select group of DLCG’s 70 top brokers were granted early access to Illuma products, before expanding to 996 top brokers across Canada in early February.
“Because there’s limited funds in terms of what EQ Bank could do, we wanted to focus on our top people,” says Cocciollo.
Though further expansion requires additional capital, both parties are optimistic that there is room to grow the Illuma product suite in the future.
“Additional products and offerings will be considered as the partnership grows,” says Wolfe. “We’re always open to new ideas that are broker- and borrower-centric and share our commitment to ensuring that our customers get access to great products at a critical time.”
“We wanted to start with high-ratio, but we want to expand that as quickly as Equitable can,” adds Cocciollo. “We look forward to the future, where we expand the product base, from insured to non-insured to conventional to all products.”
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Last modified: February 5, 2026
