National Australia Bank (NAB) has signed agreements with two leading global financial institutions – Israel’s Bank Leumi and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) – to form an international banking innovation alliance.
The alliance will enable the sharing of information, innovation strategies and open up networks with start-up partners, with the potential for the group to co-develop products and services to enhance customer experiences.
NAB Executive General Manager NAB Labs Jonathan Davey, who is currently in Tel Aviv meeting with the alliance leads from Bank Leumi and CIBC, said the network opened up many opportunities for NAB to access first-class international innovation initiatives and insights.
“Our customers want us to do things differently and strategic partnerships like this allow us to access ideas, talent and capabilities of like-minded organisations, in this case the opportunity to tap into two leading international banks, to help us gain world-class insights from global leaders to benefit our customers,” Mr Davey said.
“We want to bring the best solutions from around the world to our customers and this alliance helps us to do that. We see this as an opportunity to jointly develop solutions to problems that are common to our respective customers, leveraging the diverse capabilities that we each bring to the table.
“We’re competing in a rapidly changing world. Everyday new fintechs are challenging the status-quo; we have to not just keep up, but also find ways to get in front. By combining global knowledge and insights we hope to be able to accelerate learning and the development of solutions for our customers.
“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. We believe that the technology has the potential to not only deliver real time international payments, but also improved security and efficiency of our payments systems, so this is an important piece of work.
“Bank Leumi is recognised as the most innovative bank in Israel and is the bank of choice for Israel’s world leading start-up ecosystem. We believe that our alliance with Bank Leumi will enable us to access leading Israeli technologies, in particular access to leading cyber security and data analytics capabilities.
“Like NAB, Bank Leumi is the largest SME business bank in its market so we also see a natural alignment there to work on more innovative solutions to our respective small and medium business customers,” Mr Davey said.
Bank Leumi First Executive Vice President, Group CTIO and COO, Dan Yerushalmi said: “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. 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, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Stephen Forbes said: “We are excited to partner with NAB and Bank Leumi, two highly respected banks that share our commitment to client-focused innovation. 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.”
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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.
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.
