Problem mortgages rise

MONTREAL — Laurentian Bank of Canada said the amount of problematic loans discovered in its mortgage portfolio has increased from $304 million to $392 million. But the lender said it is has repurchased $180 million of the problematic mortgages, with further $88 million expected to be repurchased by the end of the lender’s second fiscal quarter. Laurentian said the mortgage repurchases are not expected to be material to the lender’s operations, funding or capital.