The 'Continental Shift' is going to be a game-changer.

Canada's Foreign Exchange Bank

Continental Bank of Canada was born from the idea of building a new kind of bank.

A bank where success is not driven by selling customers debt, but rather, by providing them with new and more cost-effective ways to control their financial transactions. An opportunity to shift peoples’ ideas about what banking and financial services can be.

For example, instead of simply offering to exchange Canadian dollars for foreign currency at its branches across Ontario, Continental Bank would provide its clients with the world’s first international multi-currency debit card that they could use when travelling in foreign countries.

As a business model, Continental Bank would take deposits, but it would not dispense loans, a notable contrast to most current banks that are built on a model of lending out more money than they actually have on hand. Taking it a step further, customers could someday be able to keep their deposits in the form of gold and other precious metals, and tap into those deposits for everyday expenditures – customers could effectively use their physical gold holdings to make regular purchases, and have their accounts debited as seamlessly as a cash account.

Founded over a quarter of a century ago, Continental got its start as a single currency exchange outlet with a resolute belief in the importance of customer service and great value. Today, with a loyal customer base in the hundreds of thousands, Continental boasts an enviable 98% customer approval rating across their expanding retail branch network.

In April 2020, PACE Savings & Credit Union Limited announced that they had completed their acquisition of Continental.

Below is a glimpse at a storyboard (illustrated by Ian Mack) for an advertisement that had been in development to celebrate the bank’s official launch. Portraying values of innovation, choice, ease of use, utility, and integrity, this concept expresses a sense of whimsical marvel and awe.

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