Pacific & Western Credit Corp., based in London, Ont., today announced that it has signed an agreement to buy the Canadian bank subsidiary of an international financial institution enabling PWC to operate a niche bank

“The face of Canadian banking is changing,” said David Taylor, President and CEO of Pacific & Western. “Our new bank, made possible by recent changes to Canadian banking legislation, will be a purely Canadian solution to the historic problems niche markets have faced in accessing capital.”

The purchase price is approximately $12 million, representing the shareholders’ equity of the Canadian bank, and the closing is subject to approval by the regulators as well as normal closing conditions.

“Opening up the Canadian banking industry to niche service providers like us makes more capital available in the marketplace to stimulate the economy and create jobs,” said Taylor. “With our new designation as a bank we will be able to finance more public sector capital projects at less cost to Canadian taxpayers. We will be able to accelerate capital investment in communities across the country; improving and building hospitals, schools and municipal water systems.”

Pacific & Western is a specialized financial institution with more than $730 million in assets providing innovative, low cost financing to public sector organizations and institutions across Canada.