Laurentian Bank of Canada has cleared its final major regulatory hurdle to sell its retail banking arm to National Bank of Canada and merge its remaining commercial operations with alternative lender Fairstone Bank.

Laurentian has now set a closing date of Nov. 1 after receiving the approval from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, which completes the regulatory review process.

In December, the company reached a deal to be broken up and sold to alternative lender Fairstone Bank and National Bank of Canada. As part of the deals, National Bank will absorb Laurentian's retail and small-business accounts by late 2026, while Fairstone will acquire all outstanding common shares of Laurentian for 1.9 billion Canadian dollars ($1.37 billion) to create a larger specialized commercial lending business.

The deal resolves years of uncertainty surrounding Laurentian's long-term direction after a 2023 sale process ended without a buyer.

The company then shifted its plan, choosing instead to focus on simplifying its business to lift shareholder returns.