HomeEquity Bank (HEB)
Unlocking $54.4M in Revenue for Canada's Leading Reverse Mortgage Provider
ENGAGEMENTDigital Transformation Strategy, Customer Research, Operational Process Re-Engineering, UX Enablement
sECTORFinancial Services / Banking / Reverse Mortgages
OVERVIEWHomeEquity Bank, Canada’s largest reverse mortgage provider, partnered with Boardroom Labs to modernize service for tech-aware homeowners aged 55+. Rising interest rates and operational friction were slowing growth and quietly eroding revenue. Through deep customer research and end-to-end operational analysis, we identified key pain points and opportunities, delivering a prioritized roadmap for digital transformation that balances efficiency with the human touch.
customers surveyed to map digital comfort and attitudes
274
stakeholder interviews conducted across the lead-to-fund process
24+
32
operational improvement opportunities analyzed and prioritized
$54.4M
in annual lost revenue identified due to process friction
10,250
incomplete applications addressed through process redesign
1
prioritized digital transformation roadmap delivered to guide PMO & leadership
The ProblemHEB needed to modernize into a digitally enabled, omnichannel bank, while preserving its high-touch service model, and unlock significant operational efficiency across a fragmented, manual lead-to-fund process.
What We Built-
HEB replaced age-based assumptions with attitudinal segmentation (Tech Forwards, Tech Pragmatists, and Tech Laggards) creating a more accurate foundation for digital experience design and adoption.
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End-to-end process analysis surfaced $54.4M in lost annual opportunity, giving leadership clear visibility into where friction, rework, and delays were eroding growth.
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A practical, value-led roadmap now guides sequencing of digital and operational investments, aligning customer impact, efficiency gains, and organizational capacity.
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HEB established principles for delivering consistent, human-centred service across phone, branch, and digital — enabling customers to move seamlessly between channels without friction.
OutcomesHEB gained a clear, evidence-based understanding of its customer base, identifying three distinct digital attitude segments that cut across age. We quantified $54.4M in annual lost revenue tied to operational inefficiencies and defined 32 improvement opportunities, with priority initiatives delivering $2.8M–$4M each. Insights from the work informed a national brand campaign and now guide investment decisions across HEB’s PMO and Digital Transformation teams.
