Concentra Bank selects Intellect to power cloud banking on Azure

By Sunniva Kolostyak

Canadian Concentra Bank has announced a partnership with FinTech provider Intellect, hoping to utilise the cloud-native digital banking platform to power a new digital banking strategy powered by open banking.

Concentra, a Schedule I Canadian bank, chose Intellect to drive its digitisation due to the range of digital capabilities designed and packaged into an API-first, composable platform deployed on Microsoft Azure. It hopes to utilise the services to become the leading mid-market digital bank in the country, providing specialised banking products and services to consumers, businesses, FinTechs and credit unions.

Commenting, Don Coulter, President & CEO of Concentra Bank said that in the future, Canadians will bank in a different way. “They will expect digital-first, seamless experiences, with robust and transparent data to help them be successful. Intellect’s digital banking will help us deliver a helpful, frictionless digital experience. Our purpose is creating the future of banking to enable your
success and that’s very exciting.”

Since 2018, Concentra Bank has been expanding beyond its role as the leading wholesale bank for Canadian credit unions to encompass specialised retail and commercial banking. With a long track record of collaboration with FinTechs to offer innovative products, it now plans to introduce further digital innovation to the Canadian market through future partnerships.

The bank’s new banking platform will underpin its value proposition of being a seamless, helpful digital banking experience for its customers, while offering broader products and services for Canada’s credit unions.

‘’Right from the very first interaction, we were enthused with the deep synergies in the thinking and approach of Concentra and Intellect,” said Rajesh Saxena, CEO of Intellect Global Consumer & Commercial Banking.

“We support Concentra’s digital-first banking vision. With Intellect’s digital banking platform, Concentra will be able to offer end-to-end lifecycle management for high-interest savings accounts, mortgage lending, specialised commercial lending, and digital trust solutions.”

Also commenting, Suzanne Gagliese, One Commercial Partner lead at Microsoft Canada, said: “Companies like Concentra and Intellect are furthering the digital innovation of the financial sector.”

“Concentra’s new digital banking platform transforms the customer experience with the flexibility, power and reliability that Microsoft Azure provides.”