About Saskbank
PROVEN RESULTS SINCE 2017
These numbers belong to our clients. Every dollar of growth represents a professional firm that found more transparent banking, faster decisions, and a relationship manager who stayed. From law firms in downtown Toronto to engineering consultancies in Kingston, we've built these results one relationship at a time — with published rates, published lending criteria, and a 7.3-day average credit decision that we report publicly each quarter.
THE PROBLEM WE SAW
In 2016, I spent my evenings helping a friend — Raj Bhandari, the owner of a 40-person engineering consultancy — fight his own bank to keep a credit line he'd never missed a payment on. Raj had maintained a $2.3 million average deposit balance for eleven years, and his relationship manager had rotated three times in two years. His credit review took fourteen weeks. Nobody could explain why his operating line was being reduced by $200,000 with thirty days' notice.
I got the line restored. But I realized I'd been apologizing for my own industry for years.
Professional firms generate strong, predictable revenue. They're ideal banking clients. Yet because they lack hard assets like real estate or manufacturing equipment, they're treated as afterthoughts by institutions that underwrite collateral, not cash flow. Raj's firm billed $9.2 million annually with a 94% realization rate, maintained a 2.1x debt service coverage ratio, and had never restructured a facility. By any rational credit measure, he was a better risk than most manufacturers in his bank's portfolio. But the credit model didn't see it that way — it saw the absence of a building and punished him for it.
I spent the next ten months building a business plan, recruiting a founding team, and navigating the OSFI federal charter process. It was the most demanding regulatory gauntlet I'd encountered in nearly a decade of banking — capital adequacy projections, governance frameworks, five-year business plans stress-tested against three recession scenarios, and more than forty meetings with OSFI examiners. Federal charter registration number SC-2017-0438 was worth every hour.
Saskbank opened its doors in October 2017 at 199 Clemow Avenue in Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood, with $38 million in initial capital. The name is a nod to Saskatoon, where I grew up — where my parents ran a small accounting practice and every banking relationship was face-to-face. They banked with the same manager for twenty-three years. That kind of continuity shouldn't be remarkable. It should be the baseline.
Raj was our second client. He's still with us. His relationship manager, Marcus Thibodeau, has managed his account since 2019.
— Nadia Okafor, Founder & CEO
THE SOLUTION WE BUILT
Every element of Saskbank's operating model was designed to solve a specific frustration that professional firm owners experience at large institutions. Here's how we compare — and why these differences produce measurably better outcomes for our clients.
The Old Way
- Credit models designed for manufacturers and retailers — tangible collateral is king, and recurring service revenue is treated as volatile
- Relationship managers rotate every 12–18 months, forcing you to re-explain your business structure with each new face
- Fee schedules buried in 15-page account analysis statements that require a forensic accountant to decode
- Personal guarantees required at 100% by default, with no structured path to reduction regardless of performance
- 6–10 week credit decisions are "standard" — and nobody tracks or publishes actual turnaround times
Our Way
- Proprietary scoring model weights recurring revenue, client diversification, and contract duration — built by Dr. Priya Venkatesh from six years of OSFI risk analysis experience
- Named banker, direct line, no rotation policy — 3.8-year average tenure means your banker knows your billing cycle, your partnership structure, and your growth plans by heart
- Published pricing, published lending criteria, and an annual "What We Got Wrong" report that discloses every service failure and the corrective action that followed
- Structured guarantee step-downs tied to measurable milestones — DSCR targets, equity thresholds, and operating performance triggers, all documented in writing before you sign
- 10-business-day commitment for sub-$2M facilities (actual avg: 7.3 days, Q4 2025) — and we publish our turnaround data quarterly because accountability shouldn't be optional
The result: a 0.14% commercial loan loss rate since inception — less than half the Canadian Schedule I bank average of approximately 0.35%. Our approach doesn't just serve clients better; it produces better credit outcomes. Professional firms with diversified, recurring revenue are strong credits, and our model recognizes that.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND YOUR BANKING RELATIONSHIP
At Saskbank, you won't work with a call centre or a rotating cast of junior associates. Every client is assigned a senior banker with direct authority to make decisions. Our leadership team combines over 70 years of commercial banking, risk management, and wealth advisory experience — and every one of them is accessible by direct line. Here's who you'll be working with.
Nadia Okafor
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
MBA (Ivey), CFA Charterholder. 9 years at TD prior to founding Saskbank. Led the OSFI federal charter application and built the bank from $38M in initial capital to $612M in total assets. Responsible for overall strategy, regulatory relationships, and the culture of radical transparency that defines every client interaction.
Ask me about: "Running the Rideau Canal Pathway before 6:30 a.m. in January."
Garrett Foss
Chief Financial Officer
CPA, CA. Former VP Finance at Equitable Bank. Third employee (joined early 2018). Manages Saskbank's capital adequacy, OSFI reporting, and financial planning. Maintains the CET1 ratio at 14.2% — well above the 10.5% regulatory minimum — because our clients' deposits deserve institutional-grade stability.
Ask me about: "Spreadsheet formatting standards and minor hockey in Kanata."
Dr. Priya Venkatesh
Chief Risk Officer
Ph.D. Financial Economics (U of T). Former OSFI risk analyst (6 years). Designed Saskbank's proprietary credit scoring model that weights recurring revenue, client diversification, and contract duration — the reason our lending decisions take 7.3 days instead of 10 weeks. Author of our industry analysis on why bank credit models systematically disadvantage service firms.
Ask me about: "Competitive Scrabble — I'm ranked in Ontario's top 50."
Marcus Thibodeau
Vice President, Commercial Lending
BComm (University of Ottawa). 15 years in commercial credit (BDC, Desjardins). Bilingual (EN/FR). Manages the lending suite — operating lines from $100K to $10M, term lending, succession financing, and commercial mortgages. Holds regular office hours at our Toronto client office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Personally manages relationships with Moreau & Gagnon LLP, Northpine IT Solutions, and dozens of other firms across Ontario.
Ask me about: "Restoring vintage Canadiana furniture — my garage workshop is basically a second office."
Anya Kovalenko
Vice President, Deposit & Treasury Services
MBA (Queen's). Grew the deposit book from $74M to $389M since joining in 2020. Designs custom sweep architectures, zero-balance account structures, and cash management solutions for multi-entity businesses. She's the banker who told Clearpath Accounting Group they were leaving $18,000 a year on the table — and then built the automated sweep that fixed it.
Ask me about: "Ceramics — I sell pieces at the Glebe Craft Fair every year."
Desmond Achebe
Director, Wealth Management
CFP, CIM. 96% client retention rate over 12-year career. Former Richardson Wealth. Leads Saskbank's fee-only wealth management division — portfolio management, retirement planning, and succession coordination for business owners with a minimum portfolio of $250,000. No embedded commissions, no trailing fees. Holds regular office hours at our Toronto client office on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Ask me about: "Junior Achievement Ottawa — mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs."
TRANSPARENCY ISN'T A MARKETING WORD — IT'S HOW WE OPERATE
Many banks claim transparency. We publish ours. Here are four commitments we make — and how we hold ourselves accountable to each one.
Published Rates & Fees
Every deposit rate, lending margin, and service fee is published on our Rates & Fees page. GIC rates are updated daily. Our complete fee schedule fits on one page — not fifteen. We believe that if a bank won't publish its pricing, the pricing probably isn't competitive.
Published Timelines
We commit to 10-business-day credit decisions for facilities under $2M and 20 business days for larger requests. We publish our actual averages each quarter — 7.3 days and 16.1 days respectively in Q4 2025. When we miss a commitment, it goes in our annual transparency report.
Published Mistakes
Our annual "What We Got Wrong" report discloses every service failure from the prior year — with root cause analysis and the specific process change that followed. In 2024, that included Q2 onboarding delays caused by a KYC system migration, three instances of timeline breaches, and one fee application error affecting 14 accounts.
No Rotation Policy
Your relationship manager stays with you for the duration of your banking relationship — period. Our 3.8-year average tenure per account isn't a target; it's a minimum expectation. Marcus Thibodeau has managed some accounts since 2019. Anya Kovalenko's clients have her direct line and use it.
WHERE WE'RE HEADED — AND HOW YOU BENEFIT
We measure success in years, not transactions. Our average client relationship extends well beyond the first facility — and our goal is to remain the bank that professional firms across Ontario turn to, whether they're opening their first credit line or financing a $4 million succession plan.
Our 2025 priorities reflect what our clients have asked for most:
- Expanded FX hedging services for firms with cross-border revenue — because a growing number of our clients bill in both CAD and USD, and opaque FX spreads shouldn't eat into their margins
- Onboarding time reduced to under 5 business days — down from our current average of 7 days, driven by a streamlined KYC platform and pre-populated account packages
- Wealth management division past $100 million in AUM — expanding Desmond Achebe's fee-only advisory practice so more business owners can access portfolio management, retirement planning, and succession coordination without embedded commissions
We're also investing in our Toronto client office at 200 Bay Street — adding a fourth weekly day and expanding the on-site team to serve GTA-based firms more efficiently. If you're in Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo–Kitchener, or anywhere in southern Ontario, you'll see more of us in 2025.