VersaBank
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| TSX: VB | |
| Industry | Bank |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | London, Ontario, Canada |
Key people | David Taylor, President & CEO |
| Products | Financial services |
| Website | [1] |
VersaBank, formerly Pacific & Western Bank of Canada, is a Canadian chartered bank that was founded in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1980 as a trust company. It later moved its head offices to London, Ontario,[1] and on August 1, 2002, it was granted a Schedule I Canadian chartered bank licence by the Canadian federal government, the first in approximately 18 years. The bank is publicly traded as VB on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
VersaBank is a branchless financial institution, choosing to invest instead in a technology based platform. Entrepreneur and founder of the bank, David Taylor, designed the electronic branchless platform. Beginning in 1993, the existing Pacific & Western Bank, a small trust company with six branches and a need for capital investment, reconfigured itself into a branchless bank based on online banking. By 2013 the bank became Canada's tenth largest publicly traded bank when it began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.[2] In 2017 the bank completed a revision of its ownership structure that included a merger with its largest stockholder, PWC Capital, reported to be "the first merger between a Schedule 1 bank and a holding company operating under the Canadian Business Corporations Act".[3][4]
The bank's deposits have been raised digitally by way of a comprehensive broker network situated throughout Canada.[5] In 2016, there were over 120 deposit broker firms raising its deposits, including many of the in-house brokerage firms of the big six Canadian banks. Its lending portfolio consists of commercial and corporate lending, real estate and development financing, and an innovative, state-of-the-art bulk purchase program. The bank's target market is well-established Canadian corporate entities.
In May 2016, the bank changed its name to VersaBank because Versa is the prefix for versatile and because Pacific & Western had little direct relevance given the bank’s national and virtual focus.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "Pacific & Western Bank of Canada Plans to Change Name to VersaBank as Part of Rebranding", Business Wire, March 16, 2016
- ^ Wallace Immen, "Canadian who foresaw online banking was ahead of his time", The Globe and Mail, December 2, 2013.
- ^ Barry Critchley, "VersaBank and parent PWC Capital try to unlock value by simplifying structure", Financial Post, September 13, 2016.
- ^ Barry Critchley, "The low-leveraged, high-margin VersaBank set to trade as stand-alone entity", Financial Post, February 1, 2017.
- ^ Google Finance
- ^ Barry Critchley, "Under the radar VersaBank, formally Pacific & Western Bank of Canada, posting strong metrics", National Post, June 3, 2016.