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Pineapple's stock hit a new all-time low of 34 cents on Friday before bouncing back to 37 cents. Questions about the company's leadership are now being raised, from an outgoing director no less.

RBC has upped its retention game with a new mobile renewal experience that vows "choice, convenience, and security." For a general helicopter overview, here's my consumer story about it in the Post.

Just as interesting as the consumer angle, however, are the competitive implications of this app and how it symbolizes banks evolving from stodgy institutions to tech-savvy hustlers.

Seemingly every year, it's like Groundhog Day in Canada's mortgage industry. New mortgage finance companies (MFCs) pop up like furry marmots, each one hoping to burrow into the insured mortgage market.

Meanwhile, only 1 in 6 new mortgages are insured, and there are already 20+ MFCs in a battle royale for that business.

Every new entrant sings the same song, "We're high tech, we shower you with service, our underwriters are wunderkinds, we have 'competitive rates,'" yada, yada. But, if you cut back the fluff, scaling an MFC comes down to one vital factor: strong uninsured funding...

...which brings us to Highclere Capital, a new MFC that'll debut in April.

Mortgage Hall of Famer Paul Grewal and capital markets expert Leon Dadoun have teamed up to launch Highclere Capital.

GTA-based Highclere is a technology-driven broker-focused mortgage finance company that promises:

In 2024, the Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC) unveiled revamped appraisal forms to reflect a bunch of standards changes it made.

"These changes significantly increase the potential liability for brokers who start a deal with one lender, but end up funding with a private lender," says Christopher Bisson, Founder of Appraisal Management firm Value Connect Inc.

“Most mortgage brokers have no idea these changes were made," he adds, likely because they're busy with things more exhilarating than appraisal paperwork.

Among the AIC's form additions were things like: