CIBC forms strategic alliance with National Australia Bank and Israel's Bank Leumi

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Sharing global insights and learnings to deliver innovative solutions to clients

TORONTO, Sept. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with National Australia Bank (NAB) and Israel's Bank Leumi focused on delivering new and innovative ways to enhance client experiences.

The partnership enables three banks on three continents to collaborate and share aspects of their proprietary innovation strategies to enhance their respective client experiences. The partners will share information regarding innovation insights and learnings, co-develop products and services to support and grow their respective client bases, and facilitate the exchange of employee talent in the innovation space.

"We are excited to partner with NAB and Bank Leumi, two highly respected banks that share our commitment to client-focused innovation," says Stephen Forbes, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, CIBC. "We have created a culture of collaboration among teams to drive innovation inside our bank, and formed important external partnerships with innovation hubs and fintechs to help us build the bank of the future for our clients. This alliance further strengthens our leadership position in innovation, and broadens our access to global insights and talent in this fast-moving space."   

The alliance was officially signed this week in Tel Aviv, a world leader in high-tech startups and a global tech hub.

In the two months leading up to today's announcement, CIBC and NAB worked together to test Ripple blockchain technology, moving money from Canada to Australia and vice versa, becoming part of a small group of banks globally to have successfully completed a cross-border blockchain transfer.

"We're excited to be working with CIBC and have already partnered with them in using Ripple's blockchain technology to complete international payments transfers between our banks as a proof of concept," says Jonathan Davey, Executive General Manager, NAB Labs. "Like NAB, CIBC is a customer-focused bank with a strong emphasis on the use of innovation to deliver improved customer services; and like NAB, CIBC recognizes the power of partnerships to help drive transformation and true differentiation for our customers."

"It's common knowledge that Israel is the 'Start-Up Nation' and a hotbed of innovation. Bank Leumi is a key player in both the local and global innovation arena and I am strongly convinced that this alliance will enable us to mutually share innovation strategies and to enhance our respective customer experience," says Dan Yerushalmi, Bank Leumi First Executive Vice President, Group CTIO and COO. "We find this open dialogue and knowledge sharing to be of great value and see the alliance as the beginning of a wider collaboration with NAB and CIBC in future programs."

CIBC has delivered a number of recent innovations for clients, many of which disrupt the traditional approach to banking, including:

• Launching a no-fee Global Money Transfer service, eliminating up front remittance fees and moving money faster to better meet the needs of clients who regularly send money overseas.
• Launching our new Digital Account Open technology first among the big five banks, allowing clients to open a new account through their mobile device.
• Developing an award-winning derivatives platform, recognized as the best in Canada three years in a row by GlobalCapital for its forward looking, innovative and solutions-driven approach.
• Partnering with Toronto's MaRS Discovery District as a founding partner of the MaRS C Suite, to establish CIBC Live Labs and collaborate with leading technology talent to create the next wave of banking innovations. This highly collaborative lab environment has already directly led to the launch of the CIBC Mobile Banking App for the Apple Watch, and the creation of the CIBC Hello Home App which uses image capture technology to allow clients to apply for a mortgage entirely through their mobile device.
• Delivering Apple Pay to clients;
• Partnering with C100, a non-profit based in San Francisco, to support Canadian technology entrepreneurship.

About NAB

For more than 150 years NAB has been helping customers with their money. With more than 35,000 employees, serving 10 million customers at more than 800 locations across Australia, New Zealand and around the world, NAB aims to make a difference by being a responsible, inclusive and socially innovative bank. As Australia's largest business bank, NAB works with small, medium and large businesses to help them start, run and grow. NAB also funds some of Australia's most important infrastructure projects including schools, hospitals and roads.

About Bank Leumi

Bank Leumi, established in 1902, is one of the leading and largest corporations in Israel, providing comprehensive banking services and commanding an approximate 30% domestic market share. The Leumi Group operates more than 250 branches throughout Israel, in addition to branches and offices located in key financial centres across the globe, including London, New York and Shanghai.

Leumi is leading the way for Innovation in Israeli Banking. Today, 'Leumi Digital' spearheads the digital banking field in Israel, with a wide range of innovative online banking services based on cutting-edge technology. During 2015, Leumi was the first financial organization in Israel, and one of few in the world, to implement cloud computing technology via U.S. Salesforce's CRM platform. In early 2016, Leumi was the first Israeli bank to establish a Digital Banking Division, that includes a designated Innovation Department. Going forward, Leumi will be the first Israeli bank to launch a standalone Fully-Mobile Bank – 'Pepper', planned for the last quarter of 2016. 

About CIBC

CIBC is a leading Canadian-based global financial institution with 11 million personal banking and business clients. Through our three major business units - Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Capital Markets - CIBC offers a full range of products and services through its comprehensive electronic banking network, branches and offices across Canada with offices in the United States and around the world. Ongoing news releases and more information about CIBC can be found at www.cibc.com/ca/media-centre/ or by following on Twitter @CIBC, Facebook (www.facebook.com/CIBC) and Instagram @CIBCNow.

SOURCE Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Image with caption: "Executives from CIBC, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Israel’s Bank Leumi gathered in Tel Aviv for the official signing of a newly formed strategic partnership. (From left to right: Dan Yerushalmi, First Executive Vice President, Group CTIO and COO, Bank Leumi, Tamar Yassur, First Executive Vice President, Head of Digital Banking Division, Bank Leumi; Stephen Forbes , Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, CIBC; and Jonathan Davey, Executive General Manager, NAB Labs, NAB). (CNW Group/Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160921_C7065_PHOTO_EN_777934.jpg

Olga Petrycki, Director, External Communications, CIBC at 416-306-9760 or [email protected]; Evelyn Ek, Senior Consultant, Corporate Communications, National Australia Bank, [phone] or [email protected]; Lee Neumann, Bank Leumi, [phone], [email protected]