CIBC marked a major milestone Friday for its Winkler location.
It’s now been a remarkable 125 years that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has been serving the community here, and CIBC representatives heralded the ongoing commitment to the region.
“Being here for 125 years and serving this community is extremely important to CIBC. We’ve been here for that long, and we’ve served this community in many different areas,” said market vice president Alex Baboulas.
“Through the changes, through the time we’ve been here, we’ve provided personal banking, commercial banking … we’ve become more digitized. We’ve allowed our clients to bank with us in very different ways
“In a very remote community, where some of our clients can’t get to the bank as often … that is really important to us … and as we continue to evolve as a bank, we’ll continue to be here.”
“It’s really about the clients, employees and people in general, having strong connections in our community with our clients and building those relationships … some of them for a very long time,” said community general manager Ryan Gitzel. “There’s lots of personal relationship and history with families over the years.
“Just the technology changes alone is a big, big change … the improvements in technology just to make banking more convenient for our clients.”
“Banking is one of those things that is vital to any community,” observed Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens, who added that “125 comes along very, very rarely.
“The fact that CIBC has been in our community for 125 years, providing stability around banking, having good jobs for our community and investing into our community, is one of the reasons that we are successful.
“We’re appreciative of the support to the community … and the confidence that CIBC has placed by having a consistent, regular presence for 125 years. That’s extremely significant.”