With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/995348
3.09 percent on a ve-year xed high- ratio mortgage. "We look at mortgages as a good starting point for a broader rela- tionship," says CEO Sandra Stuart. "We want to earn Canadians' business and help them achieve their ‚inancial and personal goals—and as part of that, we're o„ering great rates on mortgages, and as a result, we are growing." Last year HSBC's relationship balances (lending, deposits and wealth manage- ment) grew 7.8 percent. The bank attri- butes that trend to strong branding, innovation and improved client ser- vices, from extending branch hours to relaunching a self-directed brokerage platform ( HSBC InvestDirect); and intro- ducing Apple Pay, Live Sign for remote signing of documents, mobile cheque deposit and live chat for online banking. Gaskin says that as a smaller institu- tion, Coast Capital is interested in pro- viding new and exciting digital tools for its members but is a fast follower: "We're not going to be spending the kind of bucks that the banks are doing in terms of coming up with bleeding-edge- type technolo˜y." EY's Grewal has noticed an uptick in the adoption of ntech. Although Canada has been relatively strong when it comes to embracing technolo˜y, he remarks, Canadians are loyal to their banks and credit unions, which haven't been as quick to adopt ntech. "The banks and credit unions are now in a state where they're starting to partner more with n- tech entities." Gaskin agrees. Two or three years ago, he recalls, ntechs were looking for funding or referrals so were perceived as competition for customers. "I think the realization the ntechs had, though, was that the banks and credit unions have a loyal customer base," he suggests, adding that for many transactions, it's di›cult to shift people away from banks unless they've done something to really irritate their clients. Fintechs are becoming partners, vendors or solution providers. Take the move to launch digital member- ship at Coast Capital, where becoming a member previously required visiting a branch. Now, thanks to the services of a Canadian ntech, everything can be done online, including buying the $5 worth of Coast Capital shares needed for membership. Gaskin notes that digital services will cost Coast Capital the same whether it's provincially or federally regulated, so increasing scale is a benet. Becoming a federal credit union also provides more mobility for members, particularly small businesses, if they expand outside B.C. "As we go across the country, we would like to be able to have other national partners [while] making sure we stay grounded in the communities that we serve," Gaskin explains. ¤ 90 BCBusiness jULY/AUGUST 2018 TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO, fINTECHS WERE PERCEIVED AS COmPETITION fOR CUSTOm- ERS. "I THINK THE REALIzATION THE fINTECHS HAD, THOUGH, WAS THAT THE BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS HAVE A LOYAL CUSTOmER BASE" –DAviD GASkiN, CoAST CAPiTAl SAviNGS