(February 12 – 09:30 ET) – CIBC is touting itself as the first bank in North America to offer its retail banking customers digital signatures enabling them to electronically sign applications and obtain products completely online.

Free CIBC Personal Digital Signatures eliminates the time and costs of visiting a branch or using snail mail and couriers to provide signed documents. The new service includes more personalized application forms, online notification of application status and results, and considerably shortens the approval process for most applications to 24 hours.

CIBC says that recently passed legislation by the federal government and several provinces, and the U.S., gives electronic signatures and documents in many types of contractual agreements the same legal status as their paper counterparts signed by pen and ink. Digital signatures utilizing public key cryptography, are legally recognized under recently enacted e- signature laws. CIBC Personal Digital Signatures will be provided by the CIBC+ VeriSign division of CIBC.

“This next generation e-commerce service allows us to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of our growing online customer base,” says Kenn Lalonde, executive vice-president, direct to consumer banking, CIBC. “Eliminating the requirement for physical signatures in many types of contractual agreements, removes a key barrier to giving our customers a total online product procurement experience.”

Initially CIBC Internet banking customers will be able to use their CIBC Personal Digital Signatures to apply and sign for unsecured personal lines of credit, transaction accounts, overdraft protection, VISA cards and to contribute to existing RSP GICs and RSP savings accounts.

CIBC Internet banking customers can enroll for and obtain their free digital signatures by signing on to the CIBC PC Banking site at www.cibc.com.
-IE Staff