How to Build a New Bank in Canada

Until a year ago, I knew very little about banks, banking, or much else related to finance, except how to balance my credit card at the end of the month (well, sort of!). It’s not that I didn’t care but frankly, banking isn’t particularly fun. In September 2015, I started to work for a European crowdfunding platform. They cultivated a strong opinion on how today’s banks weren’t designed to create value for society. My job was to develop creative campaigns for clients such as artists, innovators, and start-ups, and to convey a clear message: It’s not about money; it’s about community and trust. I didn’t think big banks were trustworthy or innovative. They didn’t encourage change-makers if they didn’t fit their parameters and beliefs. Last May, I met the people of impak Finance, a project that perceives money as a way to support entrepreneurial endeavors. I was more than happy to join their team as their community architect and to learn how “good” banking can make a difference in the way our society functions.

impak Finance is the 1st socially responsible Canadian bank that intends to invest all its assets in profitable companies making a positive impact on society and the environment. We are working to create a “VALUE BANK”. impak Bank will do just that, while allowing everyone to be an agent in his or her financial ecosystem. We want to make a positive contribution, addressing actual and future social and environmental issues. We believe a responsible, transparent, collaborative bank belongs in the Canadian economic landscape.

Our triple bottom line encompasses PEOPLE, PLANET, and PROFIT, which translates into significant opportunities. “According to the Global Impact Investing Network, the market for impact capital, currently evaluated at $60 billion, could grow to $2 trillion over the next decade, or 1% of global invested assets.” - Brian Trelstad, Harvard Business Review.

To gather the community around our project, we selected 2 avenues: launch an equity crowdfunding campaign, and embark on an exciting cross-country tour to meet entrepreneurs and influencers to build our financial ecosystem.

Launch an equity crowdfunding campaign

Launching an equity crowdfunding campaign means opening our capital to citizens, so they can invest in impak Finance. We opted for a crowdfunding campaign because we believe in a more collaborative way to finance our project. For as low as $100, you can help us build a responsible bank and obtain a return on investment (when we show profit).

impak Finance is proud to share over $1,000,000 among 1,200 investors. Over 40% of these investors are Millennials (that’s my generation and that makes me very proud!). They answered the call to take an active role in a different kind of financial ecosystem. One we want to build because we believe “it’s not about the next quarter. It’s about the next quarter century.”

When you become an impak Finance shareholder, we build a mutual trust relationship. With us, you will have a voice. We genuinely want you to express what you want and what you are seeking in your financial institution. Our equity crowdfunding campaign runs until December 12th, 2016 on FrontFundr: bit.ly/impakfinance.

Meet real entrepreneurs and influencers

We also wanted to create our ecosystem by meeting with real people. Last May, we held our 1st workshops in Montreal and Toronto with local citizens. These workshops helped us understand what these people expected from a bank. And they still inspire us today! That’s why we invited ourselves into the kitchens of co-working spaces, hubs, and actual kitchen tables across Canada. By gathering input from people working “in the field”, we were in a better position to know what impak Finance could do to help create and support the bank of the future.

In our workshops and conversations, we discuss what businesses and entrepreneurs expect from their bank. We discovered how impak Finance can support entrepreneurs and impact organizations. All your input helped us create the ideal banking ecosystem to serve real projects and the real economy.

We are our story

Every entrepreneur or organization has a story – and a bank has to listen to their stories carefully. We need to dream together, build collective stories and voice the impact we are creating on our environment.

We need to collaborate

Collaboration comes in many shapes. As a collaborative bank, we want to create an ecosystem where entrepreneurs can share business models and forge relationships to share risks and profits.

We must be inclusive

Banking should be inclusive and engage people. Projects a not created by Excel spreadsheet but by people. To build a cohesive ecosystem, we need to know our communities and forge close relationships with them.

We need to create opportunities

Financial literacy should be promoted, even at a young age. Through converging spaces, families, entrepreneurs, and bankers could meet and create the tools to foster a better understanding of finance.

Since we launched, the response to our project has been fantastic. Everybody in the country is curious about impact investing! We believe our project is timely to further explore this new way “to do and to think” finance. If you want to learn more about our trip and what we learned along the way, read our Travel Blog.

I still have a lot to learn about finance and banking. But with all the positives values our co-founders share in our project, banking appears more hopeful. Every time I pitch impak Finance to strangers, I feel very proud to be part of this ambitious project. Constantly learning, connecting with people, being empathetic and listening to what people really want. : that’s what building a new bank means to me!