CIBC formalizes Microsoft Azure as its primary cloud platform

By Pavithra R

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation and Microsoft announced a strategic relationship through a multi-year agreement formalizing Microsoft Azure as CIBC’s primary cloud platform.

CIBC’s cloud-first approach will be enabled by Microsoft Azure’s computing power, enabling it to scale and modernize its banking platforms while building additional resiliency, efficiency and agility. 

“We’re building and investing in leading-edge technology to accelerate our bank’s transformation – our investment in cloud technology is a cornerstone of these efforts. With Microsoft’s Azure platform, we will be better positioned to help clients achieve their ambitions, through client-facing services such as digital banking and global remittances, as well as furthering innovative work in areas such as AI and machine learning,” said Christina Kramer, Senior Executive Vice-President and Group Head, Technology, Infrastructure and Innovation, CIBC.

Microsoft Azure will help CIBC support faster, real-time, data-driven decisions, to quickly launch and scale innovations for an enhanced client experience. Besides its Software as a Service (SaaS) and private cloud strategies, CIBC’s investment in public cloud technology will also reinforce and expand its critical foundations in data protection and security. This new strategic relationship will further enhance CIBC’s capability to deliver more for clients in a rapidly changing global marketplace.

Investments in Microsoft Azure technology will support:

• Accelerating the migration of applications to the cloud, in addition to the many Capital Markets systems already benefitting from improved scalability, agility, and efficiency of Azure;
• Scalable computing power for CIBC’s enterprise data lake and AI/ML platform to power smart, innovative client solutions;
• A secure and resilient foundation for serving CIBC’s clients, leveraging Microsoft’s expertise, multiple Canadian data centres and global footprint across the regions in which the organizations operate.

“Leveraging cutting-edge technology and ensuring employees have the right digital training are critical for organizations to thrive in the rapidly evolving financial services industry. We are proud to support CIBC’s ongoing digital transformation through Microsoft Azure, equipping CIBC with the AI, data, cloud and machine learning capabilities to drive innovation, more securely power their infrastructure and deliver superior customer experiences,” said Kevin Peesker, President, Microsoft Canada.

The agreement builds on a successful collaboration between the 2 organizations with cloud, enterprise software, and enabling CIBC’s workforce with Office 365.