National Bank completes acquisition of Canadian Western Bank | Motive Financial | Discussion forum

If Motive>National is going to be anything like Hubert>Access then we are in trouble.

Anticipating this I moved to Saven because I can't help feeling that our days of top tier interest at Motive are numbered. I have not seen one instance yet where a buyout turned out to be advantageous to existing clients.

I hope I'm wrong and the online version of Motive stays untouched but one quick look at the Motive website and you get the feeling they will be swallowed up pretty fast.

Pity!

Dean said
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No offence KamWest, but I would Differ ⬆

Motives GIC rates have been 'Uninspiring' for quite some time now, and their website remains one of the Worst in the FI industry.

If the NBoC ends up giving Motive 'The Punt', they'll be No Tears shed here.

Dean

  

Yes, I agree, that is why I switched to Saven but that said Motive is still industry leading but I think they have probably dropped because of the expected buyout.

If you use SAVEN only as a savings vehicle then they are hard to beat. I use Meridian as my daily driver because of business and they give me a great deal on the personal end but spare funds get moved to saven where I can set it and forget it.

I moved around for years but in the last couple of years saven has been at the top or near the top which is good enough for me.

The PC Financial stuff is temporary, we know that so I'm not willing to switch for a temporary gain.

Well if nothing else the name change is much broader

West to National has a higher potential, but then again some western clients probably picked them because they were western.

Time will tell if it was a good move or not.

rk said
I am looking at becoming a new client to get the special offer (4.75% for 120 days) which ends on Feb. 14th.
Never used Motive Financial before.
Any thoughts?  

Interesting. By new client, does that new to the merged entity? Or, does it mean no former clients of the old National Bank and/or the old Motive?

COIN said

Interesting. By new client, does that new to the merged entity? Or, does it mean no former clients of the old National Bank and/or the old Motive?  

High level:
- be a new Motive client after November 30, 2024;
- not have been a client of Motive Financial during the six month period preceding the start date of the Offer Period; and
- open an eligible Motive Savvy Savings account during the Offer Period as the primary accountholder.

The full details are here:
https://www.motivefinancial.com/en/savvy-savings-account

Norman1 said
The amalgamation has not occurred yet. National Bank of Canada and Canadian Western Bank are still two banks.  

We now have a legal amalgamation date, and it's sooner than even I expected. As of March 1, 2025, Canadian Western Bank will legally amalgamate with National Bank of Canada and continue as one firm, National Bank of Canada, per their press release on February 20. CDIC rules for merged institutions will apply as of that date. It will be interesting to see if the CWB subsidiaries amalgamate with the NBC subsidiaries on that date, too.

A banking system migration and transition away from the 030 institution code will likely be announced in the coming months. We could well see the demise of the Motive Financial virtual banking banner, too, which has seen has a steady erosion in deposits, from a peak of $1 billion to now fewer than $500 million.

Cheers,
Doug

everhopeful said
It does feel as if Motive is on borrowed time. Checking their website, I don't see any new client offers, their HISA rates are mid-range, and their GIC rates are low-range. It seems like they are okay with letting deposits trickle away while they plan the exit strategy.

I have some long term GICs... if they do kick Motive to the curb, will they be converted to NB ones, will they be redeemed early, or otherwise?  

Existing terms won't be redeemed early. If that happens, your Motive Financial term deposits will become branded as National Bank of Canada term deposits and existing terms will continue to maturity, as RBC did when they bought Ally Canada in 2013.

Motive Financial's deposits are a drop in the bucket for National Bank. Their focus has been on growing their National Bank Financial Wealth Management, National Bank Direct Brokerage, and retail banking businesses. CWB allows them to have a retail bank branch footprint of some significance west of Ontario, so I suspect they will be focusing resources on that.

Something may be going on at Motive, as I haven’t been able to log into their website this morning …“host timeout”?

JohnnyCash said

It's very common on weekends, especially Sunday mornings.  

Yes, they do maintenance with downtime, but do not notify their clients. Not very nice of them (or professional).

Anyone else signed up for their promo (which ended on Feb. 14) offering 4.75% (2.5% base + 2.25% bonus) for 120 days?
I did.
When you log in, they do not show the total interest on the account (unlike other FIs, including Manulife Bank). They only show the base interest, which is 2.5%.
When I called the CSR they said that is 'normal', but I will see the promo interest posted on top of the base interest. That is accurate, I can see the two interest amounts posted today (March 1st)... only one problem: the bonus interest seems to be 2% instead of 2.25% , which brings the total down to 4.5% instead of the advertised 4.75%
(hope my math is correct)
Anyone else has noticed this?