‘Give us a chance, test us’: National Bank seeks local spotlight

One year into acquiring Canadian Western Bank, Montreal-based National Bank has a message for Manitoba businesses: give it a shot.

“Give us a chance, test us,” National Bank president and CEO Laurent Ferreira told the Free Press ahead of an event in Winnipeg for clients and staff this week. “We’re a very serious counterpart, we’re solid and we have a bit of a different approach, a Canadian focus versus our peers, and it works well.”

While National Bank is the sixth-largest commercial bank in Canada, its presence has been relatively limited in Manitoba. That presence grew after National Bank completed its acquisition of Canadian Western Bank for $5 billion in 2025, and with it, CWB’s national leasing office based in Winnipeg.

“That’s a great part of the acquisition, because it brings products that we did not have at National Bank,” Ferreira said. “It also brings an opportunity for us to increase the equipment finance business across the country, particularly in Quebec, where our market share in that particular segment was very, very small.”

National Bank now has four locations in Winnipeg and one in Brandon, including the national leasing office, and 400 local employees, up from around 100 just two years before. However, it’s the second-smallest presence it has in any Canadian province (larger only than in Saskatchewan). In comparison, it has around 2,800 employees split between Alberta and British Columbia.

“But we’re going to grow, and we’re asking our clients to help us grow,” Ferreira said.

Ferreira also pitched the National Bank as a potential partner in plans to expand the Port of Churchill.

“We are going to be a financial institution that is going to be behind the financing need of the expansion of the port … that means to be a financial institution at the table, without conditions, to support the expansion of what could be a strategic asset for our country,” he said.

National Bank growing into the local market could be an opportunity for Manitobans, said University of Manitoba associate professor and head of the Asper School of Business marketing department Sandeep Arora.

“I think they have hit that sweet spot where it’s easier for them to gain trust of people because they’ve been around for so many years, but given that they don’t have a huge physical presence here in Western Canada and especially Manitoba, it lets them be more nimble,” he said.

“They don’t have the overheads that TD and CIBC and other top five big banks face, so they can be more innovative.”

Arora pointed to National Bank being the first major bank in Canada to offer zero-commission trading as an example.

More competition in Manitoba and more opportunities for businesses in the province to access capital is an inherently good thing, said Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Loren Remillard.

But even a financial institution with a long history in Canada like National Bank may need some time to fully integrate into the province.

“Many (Manitobans) have decades-long relationships with chartered banks or credit unions and others. That’s a challenging thing for a new entrant into the market to deal with, but it’s not insurmountable,” Remillard said.

“It starts by establishing credibility, reliability that breeds trust, and that becomes the basis for a relationship. It’s going to take time, but Manitoba is a good market for them to expand into, and we’ll always welcome the provision of more financial services.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca