CIBC Timeline

1867-1895 | 1896-1930 | 1931-1960 | 1961-1986 | 1987-2008

Diversification, 1987-2008

On June 30, 1987, changes to federal and provincial regulations ended the traditional separation of banks, investment dealers, trust companies and insurance companies. This marked the beginning of a profound change for the Canadian securities industry, as banks, which were previously barred from the industry, could now own an investment dealer. In 1987, CIBC became the first Canadian bank to operate an in-house investment dealer, CIBC Securities, offering mutual funds and discount brokerage services to the public.

A year later, the bank acquired a majority interest in Wood Gundy Inc., one of Canada's leading securities dealers and the foremost Canadian dealer internationally. While the bank provided the capital necessary to compete in the new environment, Wood Gundy brought a pre-eminent reputation in underwriting as well as a legendary name. Given their complementary strengths, the operations of Wood Gundy and the bank's investment banking arm merged. The result, CIBC Wood Gundy Inc., formed the core of CIBC World Markets when it was created in 1997.

Recent years have also seen remarkable changes in the way CIBC serves its clients - innovative technologies allow customers 24-hour access to banking services, 7 days a week. In 1992, CIBC was the first Canadian financial institution to offer an automated telephone banking service nationwide and, by 1998, CIBC had registered its 1 millionth telephone-banking customer. The next breakthrough in electronic banking was the use of the Internet. CIBC's first website, launched in 1995, was a static site that only provided information. A few years later, however, the bank started offering banking service on the Internet. With many services now accessible on the Web, CIBC has over 1 million customers banking online.

Seeing self-serve banking, particularly online banking, as an important innovation, CIBC joined with Loblaws to create President's Choice Financial in 1998. Launched in 28 Ottawa-area stores, it provided no-fee accounts with free access to Internet banking, telephone banking and thousands of bank machines across Canada. Services soon expanded beyond daily banking to include mortgages, loans, GICs and RRSPs - all earning points redeemable for products at Loblaws. By 2002, President's Choice Financial had more than 1 million customers across Canada.