CIBC Becomes the First Large Canadian Bank to Adopt Vault Core

Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!

Core banking rarely makes the headlines, but this one is worth a closer look.

CIBC has picked Thought Machine's Vault Core as the foundation for its retail banking technology. That makes it the first large Canadian bank to adopt the platform.

It starts small. The Simplii Account, from CIBC's direct bank Simplii Financial, is the first product built on Vault Core and is being piloted this autumn. CIBC says it was built in a matter of months, with features like folders and savings goals.

The bigger plan is multi-year. Thought Machine says CIBC will progressively modernise its retail core, moving away from legacy batch-based systems to a real-time setup that supports things like real-time payments.

CIBC is also putting money behind it. Earlier this year, it made a £30 million strategic investment in Thought Machine.

I find this interesting because a bank with 15 million clients is starting with one new product on a new core, rather than a big-bang migration. It joins more than 20 large banks on Vault Core, including Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered.

Of course, this is still a pilot for one account, not a completed core migration.

Here's what else is happening in digital banking today👇

See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

INSIGHTS

💡 Incognia: The Fraud Economy: How to Identify Suspicious Receiving Accounts. In Episode 4, Incognia CEO André Ferraz explores how banks can detect money mule networks by looking beyond outgoing payments and investigating the accounts receiving stolen funds. The discussion covers account handovers, shared devices and locations, suspicious account behaviour, and the role of location intelligence in connecting seemingly unrelated accounts. It also examines the UK's APP scam reimbursement rules and why receiving financial institutions have an increasing responsibility to identify suspicious activity. The key takeaway: understanding the networks behind receiving accounts can reveal fraud patterns that individual transaction monitoring may miss.  Watch the full episode here 

NEWS

🇦🇹 Bitpanda adds three Raiffeisen banks to its Austrian partner network. Customers of Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Raiffeisen Salzburg and Raiffeisen Vorarlberg can now access more than 650 crypto assets through the Mein ELBA app. Trading takes place directly with Bitpanda, while the banks provide access.

🇨🇦 CIBC selects Thought Machine to modernise its core banking. Under the multi-year Vault Core partnership, CIBC has built The Simplii Account for its digital brand Simplii Financial, now in a live pilot. Real-time payments and wider retail core modernisation are planned.

🇺🇸 SBI Holdings plans $100M investment in US digital bank Erebor. The Japanese financial group will invest through its US subsidiary, SBI Holdings USA, to gain digital banking know-how, with an eye on blockchain-based settlement. The stake size has not been disclosed.

🇪🇺 Revolut Pay goes live as a checkout option on Trendyol. Shoppers on the online marketplace can pay in a single tap via account-to-account transfers, without entering card details. Revolut users earn 5x RevPoints on purchases until 18 November.

🇭🇰 Standard Chartered launches tokenised deposits for corporate clients in Hong Kong. Built on the bank's own blockchain and the HKMA's Ensemble infrastructure, the tokenised deposit service supports 24/7 liquidity and real-time transfers. China AMC, Finloop and Panther Trade have completed live transactions.

🇳🇱 ING and Gigs launch a travel eSIM for ING banking customers. Called ING eSIM, the product is live in the Netherlands first. Poland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Romania, Turkey and Australia are due to follow, bringing the rollout to nine ING markets.

🇧🇭 Mumtalakat and ARP Group plan an AI-native wholesale bank in Bahrain. The Central Bank of Bahrain has given in-principle approval for the blockchain-enabled bank, which would serve regulated financial institutions, payment companies and cross-border businesses. It cannot begin regulated activity until final authorisation.

🇬🇧 Chrysalis raises the valuation of its Starling stake to £403.9M. The investment trust, which holds about 11% of Starling, made the £47.9M uplift after an external valuation review, implying roughly £3.4B for the bank. Founder Anne Boden has sold her remaining stake at a £1.7B valuation.

🇪🇺 ING brings its Private Banking service to Spain and Italy. Aimed at clients with at least €500,000 in financial assets, the offer combines digital investing with personal advice. ING starts with 35 private bankers in Spain and around 40 in Italy, where the service will expand gradually.

🇬🇧 Allica Bank opens its Business Rewards Account to broker referrals. Commercial finance brokers can now apply for clients via the bank's introducer portal, earning £400 or £600 depending on balances held. Allica says it has paid business customers more than £100M in savings interest.

🇵🇰 HugoHub makes its first live bank deployment with HugoBank in Pakistan. The Singapore platform powers HugoBank's digital banking pilot under a State Bank of Pakistan restricted licence, offering accounts, money pots and debit cards. HugoBank plans to seek commercial approval in early 2027.

🇺🇸 Navro expands its US regulatory footprint with a Texas licence. The Texas Department of Banking has granted the payments firm a money transmitter licence. Navro already holds licences in Delaware, Florida and Washington D.C., alongside e-money authorisations from the FCA and the Central Bank of Ireland.

🇪🇸 CaixaBank lets customers pay in instalments in stores with Apple Pay. Holders of CaixaBank and imagin credit cards can split in-store purchases made on iPhone into plans of two to 12 months, chosen before or after paying. Plans are managed in the CaixaBank app.

🇭🇰 HSBC to open an AI institute in Hong Kong. Planned for Q1 2027 with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as anchor partner, the AI and emerging technology institute will later move to the Northern Metropolis. It follows a similar HSBC centre in Singapore.

🇭🇰 Mox Bank backs HKMA's Project SAGE on agentic AI in finance. Launched during Hong Kong FinTech Week, the HKMA initiative will test real-world use cases to develop guardrails for AI agents in financial services. The Standard Chartered-owned digital bank has committed to exploring these applications.

🇸🇬 GXS Bank appoints Harikrishnan Raguraman as Chief Technology Officer. Raguraman previously led enterprise technology and generative AI strategy at the Grab and Singtel-backed digital bank. The CTO appointment comes as GXS and Grab bring their engineering, data and product teams closer together.

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