President's Choice Financial
Encyclopedia
President’s Choice Financial is a banking service provided by Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies Limited is the largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,400 supermarkets operating under a variety of regional banners, including the namesake Loblaws. LCL is headquartered in Brampton, Ontario...

 (a supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 chain). Several different organizations provide individual financial services under the President's Choice Financial umbrella:
  • Most standard bank products (cheque accounts, savings accounts, loans, mortgages) are provided by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
    The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....

     (CIBC).
  • MasterCard
    MasterCard
    Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...

     services are provided by President's Choice Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Loblaw Companies.
  • Insurance is provided by PC Financial Insurance Agency Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Loblaw Companies.

PC Financial does not offer business banking services. PC Financial has no branches
Branch (banking)
A branch, banking center or financial center is a retail location where a bank, credit union, or other financial institution offers a wide array of face-to-face and automated services to its customers....

; rather, customer interactions are carried out over the Internet, the telephone, at automated teller machine
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

 (ATMs) or at pavilions located inside Loblaw-affiliated stores. As of January 2009, there are 234 pavilions in Canada.

President's Choice Financial was ranked by J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm founded in 1968 by James David Power III. The firm conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for industries ranging from cars to marketing and advertising firms. The firm is best known for...

 as having the highest customer satisfaction among mid-size Canadian banks in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

President's Choice Financial

The joint venture between Loblaws and CIBC started in 1996. PC Financial offers lines of credit, loans, Registered Retirement Savings Plan
Registered Retirement Savings Plan
A Registered Retirement Savings Plan or RRSP is a type of Canadian account for holding savings and investment assets. Introduced in 1957, the RRSP's purpose is to promote savings for retirement by employees. It must comply with a variety of restrictions stipulated in the Canadian Income Tax Act...

 (RRSPs), and mortgages. Services are available in all Canadian provinces, except Quebec. Because PC Financial is part of the direct banking division of CIBC, its bank number is the same as CIBC (010). PC Financial accounts are all located under one transit number (30800).

To benefit from its low-cost, "no-fee" structure, clients perform transactions on the Internet, at an ATM, or by telephone.

Between January 2001 and October 2005, banking services for PC Financial were provided by Amicus Bank
Amicus Bank
Amicus Bank was a wholly owned subsidiary of CIBC which provided non-traditional banking to customers.Within Canada, Amicus Bank was primarily responsible for operating President's Choice Financial. Amicus Bank briefly provided services under its own name through Bell Sympatico's portal...

, a wholly owned subsidiary of CIBC. Outside of those dates, banking services were provided by the direct banking division of CIBC. Amicus is now a division of CIBC Retail Markets and is no longer a separate legal entity.

The bank has approximately 2.3 million customers.

Memberships

PC Financial, through CIBC, is a member of the Canadian Bankers Association
Canadian Bankers Association
The Canadian Bankers Association is a financial lobbying group that works on behalf of 52 domestic banks, foreign bank subsidiaries and foreign bank branches operating in Canada and their 267,000 employees. The CBA was organized in Montreal in 1891, making it one of Canada’s oldest interest...

 (CBA) and registered member with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
-External links:*** Official CDIC site*...

 (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all of Canada's chartered banks.

Services offered

  • Deposit accounts
    • No Fee Bank Account
    • Interest First Savings Account
    • Interest Plus Savings Account
  • Lending
    • Lines of Credit
      • Borrowing Account
      • Secured Borrowing Account
    • Loans
      • All-Purpose Loan
      • RRSP Loan
    • Other lending
      • Mortgage
  • Registered Products
    • Daily Interest Investment Account
    • Registered Interest Plus Savings Account
    • Registered GIC
    • Tax-Free Savings Account
  • Investments
    • GICs
    • Mutual funds (through CIBC Securities)

MasterCard

The President’s Choice Financial MasterCard
MasterCard
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...

 credit card is issued by President's Choice Bank, a subsidiary of Loblaws. PC MasterCard has no relationship to CIBC, although cash advance fees are waived at CIBC bank machines.

PC Financial MasterCards are embedded with PayPass technology.

Insurance

President's Choice offers auto insurance and home insurance
Home insurance
Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowner's insurance , is the type of property insurance that covers private homes...

, underwritten through a broker model by a number of selected Canadian Insurance companies, pet insurance
Pet insurance
Pet health insurance pays the veterinary costs if one's pet becomes ill or is injured in an accident. Some policies will also pay out when the pet dies, or if it's lost or stolen....

, underwritten by SecuriCan General Insurance Company, and travel insurance
Travel insurance
Travel insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses, financial default of travel suppliers, and other losses incurred while traveling, either within one's own country, or internationally...

by Travel Guard Canada as managing general underwriter and agent for American Home Assurance Company. President's Choice discontinued their home and auto insurance offerings to new customers in 2009 for a brief period as structural changes were made. During this time, the previous partnership with Aviva came to an end. Their home and auto insurance products returned under a separate "broker model" in January 2010. Home and auto insurance are offered only in Ontario and Alberta.

PC Points

President's Choice Financial products offer reward points (called PC Points) through various channels depending on the product (e.g., making purchases on the PC MasterCard, setting up direct deposit to a PC Financial bank account, renewing insurance, etc.) PC Points are provided by President's Choice Bank.

Footnotes

  1. BMO closes supermarket locations
  2. 2010 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study

PC Financial Online Application
  1. President's Choice Financial FAQ
  2. https://www.pcmastercard.pcfinancial.ca/RocEn/cardApp/contentPG/no_signature_required_frm.asp?WT.ac=MCT1


External links




The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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